WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush on Wednesday urged US lawmakers to quickly approve an economic rescue package to "stabilize" volatile markets and expressed optimism that it would pass.
"The Senate's going to take this bill up tonight, I'm hopeful they'll pass it, and then the House will have a chance to vote on it Friday morning," he said. "The bill's different, it's been improved, and I'm confident it'll pass."
Throughout the day, the president reached out by telephone to key lawmakers, both committed supporters and wavering senators and members of the House of Representatives.
"It's very important for us to pass this piece of legislation so as to stabilize the situation, so that it doesn't get worse and then our fellow citizens lose wealth and work," Bush said.
Bush praised lawmakers for making changes to legislation that would pump up to 700 billion dollars into the US financial system to save troubled banks and end what experts are calling a credit freeze.
"It's very important for members to take this bill very seriously," said the president, who failed to get many of his conservative fellow Republicans on board when the House defeated the proposal on Monday.
"It's important to get credit flowing again so that small businesses in our communities will be able to finance their operations, so that local municipalities are able to get the money they need to take care of the needs of local citizens, so that states are able to meet their needs," he said.
Senators have added some sweeteners to the bill, including raising Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) protections to cover bank deposits of 250,000, up from the current level of 100,000 dollars.
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