Bush: Parties will come together on plan

President Bush expressed confidence Friday his administration and Congress will get a legislative package passed to deal with the financial crisis wreaking havoc on Wall Street.

Speaking minutes after markets opened – and immediately dropped precipitously — Bush said the legislative process is “sometimes not very pretty” but expressed confidence a deal would be reached.

{mosads}“My administration continues to work with the Congress on a rescue plan,” said Bush, who only spoke about two minutes. “And we need a rescue plan.”

He also stressed both parties would work together to get a plan passed.

“Republicans and Democrats will come together to pass a substantial rescue plan,” Bush said.

News networks carrying Bush’s speech showed the movements of the Dow Jones industrial average as Bush spoke. Stocks at first fell, then rose, then fell again after Bush concluded his remarks, highlighting the market’s volatility.

Markets rose Thursday at reports that a deal could be imminent.

Bush said reaching a deal is “hard work” because the administration’s proposed $700 billion bailout of troubled banks and financial institutions is a large plan that must be dealt with quickly.

Anytime a plan that big needs to move quickly through Congress, lawmakers are going to want to be heard. Bush said they “should be allowed to express” opinions, and he acknowledged disagreements over aspects of the administration’s plan.

Bush did not note that House Republicans have emerged as the biggest opponents of the Treasury Department’s plan to solve a credit crunch by spending taxpayer dollars to buy up mortgage-backed assets of banks.

Bush, Treasury Secretary Paulson and Vice President Cheney so far have been unable to convince their allies to support the plan, despite repeated visits to Capitol Hill by administration officials and a Thursday White House meeting.

GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who announced he would suspend his campaign on Wednesday, was in meetings with House GOP leaders on Friday morning.

Thursday’s White House meeting with Bush, McCain, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and congressional leaders failed to move the talks forward, and Democrats have since criticized McCain for politicizing the process.