Can Washington Save Wall Street?

By Pamela Mortimer

Monday saw a gathering of lawmakers on Capitol Hill trying to develop an economic recovery plan to save a crumbling Wall Street. President Bush says "the world is watching" as Democrats and Republicans attempt to cooperate in creating a bill without extra provisions.

"It would not be understandable if members of Congress sought to use this emergency legislation to pass unrelated provisions, or to insist on provisions that would undermine the effectiveness of the plan," the president said in a statement.

"I appreciate members of Congress in both parties resisting the urge to do so, and keeping the rescue bill focused on solving the crisis in our financial markets," he said.

The President issued the statement after Democratic banking committee leaders said it was important to move quickly, not hastily, to pass the $700 billion bill proposed by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

"The last thing any of us want is to be back here in a month coming up with some new plan because this didn't work. It's important that we act quickly, but it's more important that we act responsibly," Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said Monday on CBS.

Paulson, a former Goldman-Sachs CEO, has gained the confidence of Dodd with his ability to handle such a huge looming issue. However, both parties seem to agree that it is "entirely unreasonable" to expect such a bill to pass quickly as many provisions have been suggested.

House Financial Service Committee Chairman Barney Frank stated that more funds should be allocated for homeowners who have struggled to pay their mortgages since sub-prime adjustable rate mortgages went through the roof. Another provision is that executive pay for CEOs of the troubled companies should have a cap.

"We want to limit those as a condition for giving them aid," Frank, D-MA said in an interview on "Good Morning America." "If Secretary Paulson would agree to that, we could move quickly."

Bush warned that the failure to act would have "broad consequences" on domestic and international levels.

"Indeed, the whole world is watching to see if we can act quickly to shore up our markets and prevent damage to our capital markets, businesses, our housing sector and retirement accounts. Failure to act would have broad consequences far beyond Wall Street. It would threaten small business owners and homeowners on Main Street," he said.

"The private sector got us into this mess," Frank said, "The government has to get us out of it. We do want to do it carefully."

On Monday’s "Today" show, John McCain said, "We are in the most serious crisis since World War II."