Bail-Out Plan Progress

Rep. Barney Frank told the AP that a lot of progress has been made on a bail-out plan that includes several layers of oversight, help to prevent mortgage foreclosures, limitations on executive pay in exchange for these government funds, and a more limited time period (one year instead of two.)

While stories earlier today suggested that widespread opposition to the Bushite proposal by Democrats and conservatives might stall the plan's passage until next week, this story asserts that it may get done even earlier than the end of this week, perhaps by Wednesday.

In the meantime the stock market dropped 372 points, although it had been even lower earlier in the day. The price of oil, which had been falling, suddenly jumped $16 a barrel, its largest one day increase on record.

Update: by Monday night, Barney Frank was saying that he overstated the areas of agreement with Bush reps, and that the process could take longer than this week. However, House and Senate Democrats are in general agreement on what they need in this bill, he said. In the Senate, Democrat Chris Dodd has stepped up with his own proposal, which is getting good support and praise for being more detailed than the Bushite government proposal.