The US financial services sector could be forced to reimburse the US government for any losses on its $700bn rescue plan under a breakthrough agreement that paves the way for congressional approval as early as Monday.
But hours before a government bailout bill was due to move to the floor of the House of Representatives, Republican holdouts had yet to give an assurance they would help vote it into law.
After a weekend of frenzied talks, Hank Paulson, the Treasury secretary, and Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House speaker, announced early on Sunday that a tentative deal had been reached authorising the government to buy up to $700bn of troubled assets from financial institutions.
The deal envisages historic restrictions on executive pay for banks involved in the programme and opens the door for the government to take equity warrants in those institutions.
More than half of Democrats in the Democratic-controlled House pledged to support the deal. But at a closed-door meeting of House Republicans late on Sunday, it was unclear whether enough would follow their party leaders to guarantee adoption of the package.
As the White House urged Republican opponents to come on board, John Boehner, House minority leader, appealed to Republicans “whose conscience will allow them” to support the bill. “The American people are angry and my colleagues are angry about the situation they find themselves in,” said Mr Boehner.
He acknowledged the bill was not exactly the one Republicans would have drafted but it contained elements they had helped to introduce.
Both Republicans and Democrats tried to claim credit for defending the interests of taxpayers amid public outrage at the prospect of spending $700bn to bail out Wall Street.
House Republicans, the most vocal opponents of the rescue plan, remained wary even after their leaders signed up to the agreement.
The two presidential candidates gave their qualified support on the basis of the outline of the deal. John McCain said: “Let’s get this deal done, signed by the president, and get moving.” The Republican came under fire from Democrats last week who claimed he slowed the outcome by intervening in the talks. Barack Obama, his Democratic rival, said if concerns on issues such as executive pay were addressed, “my inclination would be to vote for it, understanding that I’m not happy”.
Democratic legislators said they had earlier spoken by telephone to Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, who warned them of “the biggest financial meltdown in American history” if they failed to act.
Although final details of the legislation were still being worked on throughout the morning, Capitol Hill aides said they expected the House and Senate would both approve the measures early in the week.
On Saturday night, negotiators found a way to address concerns that the bail-out plan insufficiently protected taxpayers. If, after five years, losses were incurred by the government on the sale of the troubled assets it purchases through the programme, the US president would have to present a plan to recover the money from those who benefited from it.
While imposing curbs on the compensation of executives at companies participating in the bail-out, Democrats dropped demands that shareholders be given a vote on pay. The $700bn would be authorised fully but released in three stages, beginning with an initial $250bn. Congress would review and could in principle block the final $350bn disbursement.
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