Reporting on MSNBC live. Barney Franks, D-MA, is holding a press conference in front of a dozen reporters..
Developing
This is a huge development. And the implications of what McCain will do tomorrow now is up in the air.
Rachel Maddow:
What House Republicans have done is thrown a wrench in the works. Big time.
AMERICAblog is also reporting the story...
Exactly what has John McCain done? It's already clear this was a cheap political stunt and that he offered no substantive ideas to the debate.
updated x2
I've been scouring the Internets and I cannot come up with any warning of this prior to McCain's swooping in to Washington.
Forbes reporting today:
Speaking to CNBC this afternoon, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the House Financial Services chairman, said an agreement was nearly complete. That proposal included equity protection for taxpayers, restrictions on executive compensation, a strong oversight provision and efforts to reduce mortgage foreclosure. The one sticking point: whether a bankruptcy clause should be applied to primary residences in the area of foreclosure relief.
Okay, guys, the stories are going to start dripping in now. Reuters seems to be first on the case:
Negotiations toward a massive bailout for Wall Street fell into disarray on Thursday night after Democrats complained about an entirely new Republican plan, with lawmakers offering conflicting reports on presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's position.
And Barney Frank is using pretty strong tactics to tell the American people exactly what happened. He was actually waving around the piece of paper the Republicans had delivered.
House Republicans, in some kind of arrangement with McCain, went off to wherever. I don't know whether they're ready to negotiate this. Their thing was some totally different mortgage insurance plan ... that would clearly delay this for a week or more," Frank told reporters.
"We're waiting to hear from the House Republicans," said Frank, who has played a key role in talks over a Bush administration proposal to spend $700 billion in taxpayer money to buy up bad mortgage debt from distressed banks.
POLITICO is now reporting what we all suspected.The hardcore conservatives are sticking to their guns. Some of those who are worried of a $700 B package being shoved down our thorats by the former CEO of Goldman are skeptical. Yours truly included.
According to one GOP lawmaker, some House Republicans are saying privately that they’d rather “let the markets crash” than sign on to a massive bailout.