Bailout backers vow to press on

Backers of the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package, including both presidential candidates, vowed yesterday that Congress will deal with the nation’s financial crisis this week, saying that world markets, as well as ordinary Americans, are demanding action after Monday’s stunning rejection of the taxpayer-financed bailout bill by the House of Representatives.

“We’re staying here until the answer is ‘yes,’” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said on the Senate floor, vowing that “any solution will be a bipartisan solution.”

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who was a key architect of the congressional compromise, told reporters, “I’m told a number of people who voted ‘no’ yesterday are having serious second thoughts about it.” He added, however, “there’s no game plan that’s been decided.”

A top House Republican aide said even a number of GOP members were reconsidering in light of the market and voter reaction.

“It was like the dog who chased the car,” the aide said. “Well, they caught it. Now what?”

After falling sharply Monday after the stunning 228-205 House vote against the bailout proposal, world markets staged a rally Tuesday, partially undercutting arguments from President Bush and top congressional leaders that Congress must act quickly.

Wall Street snapped back Tuesday after its biggest sell-off in years, as the Dow Jones industrials surged nearly 500 points to the 10,860 level. S&P index of 500 major stocks was up 58.35 points to 1,164.

Several lawmakers said that they had detected a dramatic change in public sentiment in the wake of the House vote rejecting the bailout plan. Congressional offices had been deluged in recent weeks by angry constituents opposed to the rescue package.

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“There’s been a dramatic shift in my office, and I’m hearing the same thing from other offices,” said Rep. John Campbell, California Republican who voted for the bill. “The calls and e-mails have gone from 80-20 against to maybe 50-50 since the vote, and it’s moving heavily toward the ‘yes’ said.

“What’s happening is that it’s sinking in to people that this crisis isn’t just for Wall Street, that it could impact them in a negative way,” Mr. Campbell said in an interview.

“My telephone calls are starting to change,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican and supporter of the bill, saying many are now pressing Congress to act.

“We’re not going to sit around looking at the wreckage figuring out who to blame,” he said. “We can do that next week.”

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