ET'ers getting slow here? This story has been out for about an hour now, I've been waiting for one of you quick draws to get this thing posted. Powered by SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close Congress has a plan Lawmakers agree on bailout principles to protect taxpayers and ensure oversight. By Tami Luhby, CNNMoney.com senior writer Last Updated: September 25, 2008: 2:36 PM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Lawmakers have reached agreement on a bipartisan counterproposal to the Bush administration's $700 billion financial bailout plan. Both parties and the House and Senate agreed Thursday to a set of principles on revisions to the rescue plan, which calls for the Treasury Department to buy up bad mortgage securities from banks in an effort to get them to lend again. The proposal will help homeowners, curb executive pay packages at participating firms and provide oversight of Treasury's actions, said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., a key architect of the congressional effort. He did not provide details but said lawmakers will sit down with Treasury officials to discuss it. "We've reached a fundamental agreement on a set of principles, one, for taxpayers, which is tremendously important," Dodd said. "We're very confident we can act expeditiously." At least one prominent Republican says matters still aren't settled. "House Republicans have not agreed to any plan at this point," said John Boehner, R-Ohio, minority leader. Instead of receiving the entire sum at one time, Treasury will receive the money in installments, with $250 billion in bailout funds available immediately, the Wall Street Journal reported. Lawmakers also said the deal calls for the government to receive stock warrants of participating companies, the Journal said. Administration officials said they were pleased that progress is being made. "We'll want to hear from Secretary Paulson, and take a look at the details," said Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman. "We look forward to a good discussion at the meeting this afternoon." The provisions that Congress wants to add to the administration's plan should make Americans "legitimately feel better about the overall approach," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who heads the House Financial Services Committee. Taxpayers would be protected under the congressional version of the bailout, said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee. Congress' additions to the proposal call for the Treasury to be "reimbursed for their expenditures," he said. Lawmakers said they wanted to send a message to the markets to calm down. Wall Street heard the message, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 300 points after the agreement was announced. It then settled back to a gain of 200 points. First Published: September 25, 2008: 1:28 PM ET Find this article at: http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/25/news/economy/deal_reached/index.htm?postversion=2008092513 SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article. � 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLP.
I love that executive pay curb. Just yesterday the repubs souned like they would never give in to that.