House Dems forecast bailout by the end of the week

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) held a sit down with reporters today, touching on three major issues involving the $700 billion bailout plan. Hoyer said that no one believes this plan is perfect, but that something needs to be done now. “Members are not comfortable with the request. The crisis is real, the risk is great, and the need for a substantial and rapid movement is clear,” he said.

Hoyer said that it’s the administrations policy that has gotten the economy into this mess. He says that President Bush has an obligation to address the American people about what has happened in Wall Street and what is going to be done about it and he called for Bush to appear in prime time. He stressed that it was not congressional that policy failed.

Hoyer said that the bill for the bailout should go through either Thursday or Friday of this week. Hoyer wanted to point out that “no one should believe that we are going to hand over a blank check. The theory is not to save Wall Street but to stabilize the economy so the working class people don’t get squashed by the economic chaos. All of this should be done Thursday or Friday.”

In the bill, Hoyer and the House Democrats, would like to see two major things be done. The first is capping executive salaries. “Taxpayers should not be losing a substantial amount while executives are making a profit,” said Hoyer during the briefing. Democrats also would like to see some sort of aid for those that are getting foreclosure on houses. Hoyer said that they would like to negotiate in ways that would allow the middle class to stretch out their payments over time to limit the amount of foreclosures that are happening.