President Bush Makes New Plea for Congress to Pass Economic Rescue
European Leaders Scold Congress; Wall Street Holds Breath
Obama and McCain Propose Raising FDIC Insurance Levels
The FDIC, established during the Great Depression, currently insures deposits up to $100,000. The Democratic presidential candidate suggested that ceiling be raised to $250,000.
The Obama campaign said it's a "step that would boost small businesses, make our banking system more secure and help restore public confidence in our financial system."
But not all of the blame dealing has evaporated.
The Republican National Committee launched a new ad today that claimed the Illinois senator was making the bailout even more expensive.
"Under Barack Obama's plan, the government would spend a trillion dollars more, even after the bailout," the ad claims.
"New taxes, new spending, new debt. Barack Obama's plan -- it'll make the problem worse," the ad concludes.
Obama's campaign also put out a new ad stating that McCain wants to follow Bush's economic plan.
Top White House and congressional leaders are trying to figure out what to do next.
"Right now they're trying to figure out if there are one or two small changes, relatively small changes they could make to the legislation that would pass it through the House," said ABC News chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos. "The idea that has gotten the most currency in the last 24 hours, through my talks with administration officials, the White House and Congress, is to extend the deposit insurance to more accounts."
"They believe this could be the one idea that could get you the 10 or 12 votes that you need right now," Stephanopoulos said. "But it's very uncertain territory."
He suggested that Bush, with his low popularity ratings, no longer has the oomph to push Congress to support his proposal.
"The power is in Wall Street right now," Stephanopoulos said. "I think where you probably have the most power is a tremendous drop-off on Wall Street in the market. That would create more pressure on members of Congress to pass this thing."
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