By- Suzie-Q @ 8:45 PM MST
McCain blamed as US economic rescue deal staggers
Raw Story- Agence France-Presse
by Jitendra Joshi
Published: Thursday September 25, 2008
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Top Democrats angrily accused Republican White House contender John McCain late Thursday of sabotaging an astronomically expensive deal to bail out Wall Street and shore up the US economy.
The 700-billion-dollar package stalled at talks convened by President George W. Bush with top lawmakers and both the men vying to succeed him — McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced a new round of late-night discussions Thursday in a bid to get the deal back on track, set to be joined by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke.
“John McCain did nothing to help, he only hurt the process,” the senior Democrat said at a joint news conference with Senate banking committee chairman Christopher Dodd.
Barney Frank, the Democratic chair of the House of Representatives financial services committee, said: “I think this was a campaign ploy for Senator McCain.
“I think they then had the problem that there might not have been enough of a deadlock for him to resolve,” he said, after Dodd had earlier announced an in-principle agreement with some senior Republicans on the bailout package.