Democrats claim credit, stress bipartisanship

Congressional Democrats late Sunday claimed credit for dramatic improvements to the Bush administration's proposal to shore up Wall Street’s teetering financial markets.

They also vowed there would be no changes to the bill that now spans 110 pages and is scheduled for its first votes Monday.

{mosads}House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) told reporters at a late-afternoon press conference that it was Democratic input that brought major oversight and accountability provisions to protect taxpayers.

At the same time, mindful of still-simmering opposition from House Republicans, the Democratic leaders said Republicans in both chambers also contributed significantly to the process and are key to the criticial question of whether it will pass.

“This is not a Democratic bill,” Pelosi said. “This is a bill sent by the president, approved by Congress in a bipartisan way, and we will have to have bipartisan support.”

Pelosi said Democrats deserve credit for turning the bailout into a “buy-in.”

“Democrats insisted that if this was so necessary to bail out Wall Street, that we had to insulate the American people,” Pelosi said. “We insisted on protecting the taxpayer as we stabilized the markets.

“Working in a bipartisan way, we have sent a message to Wall Street: ‘The party is over.’ No longer will the U.S. taxpayer bail out the recklessness of Wall Street. That’s the news this legislation brings.”

The first test will come Monday, when the House will vote on the bill. A Senate vote will come Wednesday, according to Reid’s office.

Pelosi said the final version of bill has been posted online at her Web site and the House Financial Services Committee site, and that no changes will be made.

Pelosi praised the overall concepts that were hammered into details during a nine-hour negotiation Saturday night. Those include an oversight board to monitor how the bailout is working; limits on executive pay packages at failed firms, and provisions that give taxpayers an equity stake in the companies that the government is helping. All of those concepts were missing from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s original proposal, Pelosi said.

Reid and Dodd also announced that the Senate Banking Committee will hold hearings “later this year” to scrutinize how the country’s financial system because so threatened. A Democratic source said specific dates — and whether the hearings would happen before or after the election — have not been finalized.

Frank said his committee will be holding similar hearings in the House.

Reid and Dodd both emphasized that congressional approval this week is critical to shore up the anxious financial markets, a message echoed earlier in the afternoon by Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.), ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. All three said the financial turmoil is already choking off the flow of credit that helps the system work.

“Inaction would paralyze our economy,” Reid said. “Even now it’s difficult for people to get a car load. Even now it’s difficult for people to make sure student loans are available. The market is frozen in terms of buying homes. We’ve got to change this.”

Pelosi said she plans to publish on the Internet a sweeping collection of “all of the transactions” related to the Internet within 48 hours of the bill’s passage and implementation. Pelosi did not provide specifics, but was likely referring to drafts of the plan as it moved through the negotiation process.

Reid said he is taking a wait-and-see approach on whether he will be forced to file cloture on the bill in the Senate.