Democratic Leaders Plege Bush Their Cooperation On Bailout Legislation

September 30, 2008 4:29 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Democratic leaders expressed willingness on Tuesday to continue working with President George W. Bush on a bill allowing the government to spend $700 billion to rescue the nation's financial markets.

In a letter to the President released late Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, "We must continue our bipartisan efforts of the past two weeks to pass a comprehensive bill to help stabilize our financial system and protect the American taxpayer. We welcome your statement this morning and are committed to working with you and our Republican colleagues to enact a bipartisan bill without further delay."

Bush earlier sounded an note of urgency and made an emphatic appeal to lawmakers after weeks of expressing confidence about the economy. "If our nation continues on this course the economic damage will be painful and lasting... "for the financial security of every American, Congress must act," he said in a statement delivered from the White House.

Both Democrats and Republicans failed to gather enough votes to pass a bipartisan bill on Monday laying out how the government should rescue the nation's financial markets. Congressmen voted 228-205 to reject the bill, including 133 Republicans and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), who chairs the 100-member Republican Study Committee.

Republicans say the "partisan speech by Pelosi on the floor before the vote caused the bill the fail. "We had about a dozen members that we thought we could bring along on the floor... but after what I thought was a rather partisan speech given the nature of this bill and how we've worked in a bipartisan way, it really killed our chances," House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) told CBS's Katie Couric on Monday.

But Democrats accused Republicans of overpromising votes. Observers also pointed out that only four of the 19 Republican congressmen from the President's home state voted to support the measure.

Pelosi and Reid's letter come just as the Federal Reserve injected an additional $630 billion into the global financial system. The Dow fell nearly 700 points as fears roiled Wall Street while lawmakers voted on Monday. The drop represented $1.2 trillion in losses.