Bush to speak on bail-out debate

Posted on September 24, 2008

US President George W Bush is due to address the nation shortly, amid more wrangling in Congress over a $700bn (?378bn) bail-out of financial markets.

He will call for support for the rescue plan, which is dominating US politics.

Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain have disagreed on delaying a TV debate over the economic turmoil.

Mr McCain says he is suspending his campaign to help with the crisis, but Mr Obama says voters now need to hear from the candidates more than ever.

Mr Bush will make his televised address at 2100 EDT (0100 GMT).

His administration is calling on Congress to approve the costly bail-out - under which the Treasury would use public money to buy bad debt from troubled financial institutions - as soon as possible to prevent further harm to the economy.

But lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties have voiced doubts about the plan and the speed at which they are being asked to approve it.

They want assurances that it will benefit ordinary American home-owners as well as Wall Street, and be subject to adequate oversight.

Debate row

Both of the candidates in November’s presidential election have been speaking out on the issue.

Carolyn pollack

Mr McCain, the Republican candidate, said he was suspending his campaign to return to Washington to help agree a deal, saying he feared the rescue package would not pass “as it currently stands”.

He also called for his first presidential debate with Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Friday to be suspended - something Mr Obama did not support.

Americans needed to “hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess”, Mr Obama told journalists.

Both candidates have, however, called for a bipartisan approach to passing a bail-out deal.

Earlier in the day US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke said the US economy risked “serious consequences” if swift action was not taken.

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