White House hopes for deal by Monday

The White House said Friday that whatever tenuous agreement Congress seemed to have reached Thursday on the financial bailout package did not "fall apart" at the afternoon White House meeting, and the administration thinks a deal can be brokered before the stock market's opening bell on Monday.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said President Bush spoke with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) Friday morning, and the White House believes "things are continuing to move in the right direction."

{mosads}"We don't have any reason to believe we can't get it done by Monday," Perino said.

Bush met with congressional leaders and presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain on Thursday afternoon in what was later described as a contentious meeting.

Officials had hoped a deal could be reached either before or at the meeting, but some Republicans refused to go along with the administration's proposed $700 billion bailout package.

McCain, who said he was suspending his campaign and skipping Friday night's debate unless a deal was brokered, said Friday he felt like enough progress had been made that he could make the trip to Oxford, Miss., to participate in the debate.

In announcing his decision, McCain said partisan politics had led to failure to reach a deal Thursday, accusing Obama of "political posturing" in remarks the Illinois Democrat made at the meeting.

Perino on Friday declined to characterize the remarks of any of the meeting's participants but responded to a question about McCain's accusation by saying: "I think everybody there was constructive and trying to find a solution."

The White House said it appreciated the concerns of House Republicans who are fighting the administration's bailout proposal, but Perino said the president is ultimately concerned with finding a solution.

Perino said whatever deal Congress does reach, the president will take it to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and ask "one question: Does the legislation do what needs to be done to help save the economy?"