‘Fundamental Agreement’ on Bailout Reached

Congressional leaders announced Thursday that they have a tentative bailout deal in place.

“We’ve reached a fundamental agreement on a set of principles,” said Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Dodd was joined at a news conference by Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah), also a member of the Senate Banking Committee, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), and House Financial Services Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.).

Dodd said that while Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will get the authority and funding he needs to act, the agreement includes “effective oversight” of how the bailout will be executed and addresses issues for struggling homeowners and pay for executives of companies that will benefit from the plan.

Dodd, however, did not go into details, saying that the deal still had to be taken to Democratic and Republican members in both chambers.

“We’ll obviously be talking to our respective leadership as well. But we’re very confident that we can act expeditiously. We think we’ve done a good job in arriving at that,” Dodd said.

Bennett said the he expects that the bill will pass the House and the Senate and that the president will sign it.

Frank agreed: “And, yes, we are on track, I believe, to pass this. The market should be calmed down.”