Proposed Wall St bailout to cost $700bn

Proposed Wall St bailout to cost $700bn

By FT reporters

Published: September 20 2008 17:49 | Last updated: September 21 2008 00:35

Senior Democrats signalled hard bargaining ahead on the Bush administration’s proposed $700bn bailout for the country’s financial institutions as officials met members of Congress over the weekend to seek bipartisan agreement on the package.

The plan to quell turmoil on the financial markets would allow the government to buy the toxic assets of any US institution for the next two years, raising the legal ceiling on the national debt from $10.6 trillion to $11.3 trillion.

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and DEB RIECHMANN,

Associated Press Writers 1 hour, 31 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration asked Congress on Saturday for the power to buy $700 billion in toxic assets clogging the financial system and threatening the economy as negotiations began on the largest bailout since the Great Depression.

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Democrats are pressing to require that the plan help more strapped borrowers stay in their homes and to condition the bailout on new limits on executive compensation.

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