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Congress Working Overtime on a Bailout Deal; Remembering Paul Newman
Aired September 27, 2008 - 23:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, and it is a special edition of the CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. We are following major news on three fronts this hour. We are up late tonight because lawmakers are. At the nation's Capitol, they're burning the midnight oil, vowing to stay all night if that's what it takes to get a deal on this financial bailout.
Meantime, looming off the East Coast today, look at Hurricane Kyle. There it is. Where did that come from? Who is in danger? We'll tell you where it is headed.
And sadness in Hollywood tonight, and around the world. We remember the life of the great Paul Newman.
We're going to start with the financial crisis, though. There is a lot of ground to cover tonight. And we have some of the best in the business to help us do it. Our Brianna Keilar is at the Capitol. White House correspondent Ed Henry covers that into Pennsylvania Avenue for us. And in New York tonight, our personal finance editor Gerri Willis.
OK, well, there are three questions on my mind right now and probably on yours, too. What's next? What if this doesn't work? And why not rescue the folks on Main Street instead of Wall Street. We'll get the answers to these questions for you in this hour.
First, we have a quick look at where we stand right now on this. A team of negotiators from both parties and both Houses of Congress working right now. The Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is there, too. They're trying somehow, somehow, some way to hammer out a deal on the $700 billion rescue plan by Sunday night. But they tell us, it could happen at any moment. So we are standing by. That is a key deadline, because it would clear the way for possibly smoother Monday trading on the financial markets.
And new tonight, we are learning that negotiators have talked by phone with investor Warren Buffett, asking him for help in gauging market reaction.
Let's head to the heart of the action right now in Washington, and CNN's Brianna Keilar is at the Capitol.
Brianna, where do things stand right now? Give us the very latest, please. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Don, no deal at this point, that's the word. But we're into the tenth hour of negotiations between these key negotiators on this bailout package. Actually, at one point earlier this evening, and we're showing you video, pictures right now of this. We saw these negotiators break up into kind of smaller groups. They were walking in between different rooms, obviously talking to each other. And that man right there, that's Senator Kent Conrad. He is the Democratic Chairman of the Budget Committee.
He is the one that we learned about the Warren Buffett phone call with. He said members of Congress at this time were actually consulting with outside experts, and the one name he did tell us was Warren Buffett, Don.
LEMON: Really, Warren Buffett? OK, what's the probability that, you know, they talk to Warren Buffett, who has some idea of how to run things. But what I want to know, Brianna, what's the probability that there will be a deal tonight and soon?
KEILAR: Well, you know, it depends on who you ask. But I think the fact that Secretary Henry Paulson is here is certainly a sign that they are working very seriously on this. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had said the plan, her hope, at least, was to get an agreement this evening. She was talking about maybe a vote on Sunday, maybe on Monday. The key Senate Republican negotiator was saying the plan was to go into this room, negotiate, and not to leave until there was an agreement. But House Republicans, who have really been the ones not getting on board with this $700 billion plan, the $700 billion taxpayer money plan, they -- they are basically saying there's no deal, and they have been really downplaying expectations of a deal this evening, Don.
LEMON: Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill with great coverage all day long and all evening long here on CNN. We'll be getting back to you if something does happen within this hour, Brianna. Thank you very much for that.
Let's get the White House view on all of this now from CNN's Ed Henry.
Ed, what do you know? What's at stake here?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, the stakes could not be any higher for the president. It could not be any higher, frankly, for the nation. In fact, you just heard Brianna report that many lawmakers have been consulting with Warren Buffett to get his views.
I actually just spoke to one of those lawmakers privately. He said, what is Warren Buffett telling you guys behind closed doors? This person told me Warren Buffett, a legendary investor said that if Congress doesn't act, quote, "there will be the biggest meltdown in American history." That's a quote. "Biggest meltdown in American history."
It gives you an idea of the stakes. What these lawmakers are hearing from experts. But on the flip side, they're also hearing from our viewers. They're hearing from their constituents back home who were saying, nonsense. There is not going to be a bigger meltdown. There's already been a meltdown, and if you just bail out the fat cats on Wall Street, the people on Main Street are not going to be helped.
That's part of the reason, a big part of the reason why we have stalled negotiations for the last few days is that these lawmakers are up for re-election in just a few weeks. And they're trying to figure out, what's the best way forward. But also, how to deal with competing messages from their constituents.
They have some people saying, look, you better act quick to deal with this crisis and stem the crisis. They have others saying, nonsense. Let this play out a little bit longer. There has already been a lot of pain. But the worst thing you can do is start bailing people out on Wall Street and put the taxpayers on the hook for $700 billion, Don.
LEMON: All right. Ed Henry, thank you very much. But what's happening on Pennsylvania Avenue. So what are the risks if Washington can't agree on a bailout? Could it get to the point where we don't get our paychecks or we can't get money out of the ATM? That's what we're hearing.
Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis is in New York, staying up late for us tonight, because they are working, as we said, the midnight oil on Capitol Hill, trying to bang this out.
OK, Gerri, so we can't get our paychecks. We can't get a money from the ATM? Could it really get that bad?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Look, I don't want to panic people, Don. But look, that is the end game if there is no plan that gets put in place. Ultimately, credit is the lifeline of capitalism. You have to have money moving through the system. You have to have money moving through the system for people to get their paychecks, for ATMs to work, for entrepreneurs to do their thing. And ultimately, there has to be some kind of solution in place. But this is a crisis of great proportions probably as great as since the Great Depression. The nation's financial system here is at risk.
LEMON: And you know what, Gerri, we've been hearing, you know, one party, the Democrats want this, the Republicans are saying this is left out. So does either party really have the answer here?
WILLIS: Well, you know, OK, we've talked a lot about the $700 billion, the administration wants. What they want to do is then buy up some of these mortgage investments that have gone sour, take them off the balance sheets for the banks that are suffering, solve the problem that way.
But let me tell you just how far apart the Democrats and Republicans are on this. Let's take a look at the wish list of the two parties here. The Republicans want to -- the House Republicans, that is, want to solve the problem in an entirely different way. They want to create an insurance pool that the banks themselves would pay into, and then that pool would pay for losses, very different. They want some kinds of tax cuts, temporary tax cuts, to help these businesses out, to bail them out.
Now, Democrats have an entirely different solution. They want a forbearance plan for foreclosures. So the money goes definitely to consumers, individuals, homeowners, rather than Wall Street. So, these are very different plans. They come at the problems from very different angles. But I have to tell you, at the end of the day, the one thing that folks seem to be agreeing on is that the taxpayers have to get something back.
We want to see the taxpayers not just lose money on this, and that's, of course, you know, what we're hearing from our viewers, and to constituents as well.
LEMON: All right, thank you. I'm glad you mentioned that, Gerri - what our viewers are missing. Thank you very much, our personal finance editor.
I say that because many of you have questions about your own financial situation and how to survive this economic crisis. That's what we're calling it.
This hour, you'll hear from a man who went from extreme poverty to extreme wealth. Poverty to wealth. Can you do the same? Stick around and find out. We want to get you back live now to the Capitol, Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are vowing not to leave that building until they save this country from possible financial ruin. They're up all night, and we are, too, with the very latest for you.
Also tonight, the world mourns. Paul Newman, larger than life, bigger than the big screen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: With looks like that, how could he help not being a movie star? He was more than a Hollywood legend. He was an American hero. Paul Newman died of cancer yesterday at the age of 83. And CNN's Brooke Anderson looks back at his remarkable career, both on and off the screen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL NEWMAN, ACTOR: Why have I been arrested and then dressed like this?
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paul Newman's debut film, "The Silver Chalice" was so bad he bought an ad in the newspaper to apologize to audiences. But it wasn't long before the method-trained actor redeemed himself in 50 spare like "Somebody Up There Likes Me" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" with Elizabeth Taylor.
NEWMAN: You got a thin skin is what you got.
ANDERSON: Newman's most significant leading lady, however, proved to be Joanne Woodward, who starred with him in films like "The Long Hot Summer" and "Paris Blues." She became his second wife in 1958 and their union proved to be a rarity in Hollywood. It lasted not just years but decades.
NEWMAN: Look at (INAUDIBLE), it's like a dancer.
ANDERSON: In 1961, Newman scored a hit as fast Eddie Felson, the pool hall hero of "The Hustler." When he updated the role 25 years later in "The Color of Money," it earned him a long-awaited Best Actor Oscar.
In the '60s, Newman reflected the times playing rebels like Hud and "Cool Hand Luke."
NEWMAN: What we've got here is failure to communicate.
ANDERSON: In 1969 came "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," the first of his two pairings with fellow superstar, Robert Redford.
ROBERT REDFORD, ACTOR: You're scared of him.
NEWMAN: Right down to my socks, buster.
ANDERSON: The rambunctious Henry Gondorff in the conmen comedy "The Sting" followed as did some of the darker more nuanced films of his later years such as "The Verdict and "Road to Perdition."
NEWMAN: Who's got a hunt for a lonely old man?
ANDERSON: Although he starred in more than 50 films, his real passions were Joanne, race car driving, and his food company, Newman's Own. His salad dressings, spaghetti sauces and a host of other grocery store staples raised millions for worthy causes, including the Hole in the Wall summer camps for terminally ill children and the Scott Newman Center named for his son, Scott, who died of an overdose at age 28.
NEWMAN: Boy, I got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals.
ANDERSON: An actor's actor, a devoted husband, a creative philanthropist. Paul Newman was that rarest of things. A Hollywood star you could look up to on screen and off.
Brooke Anderson, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well, one of Paul Newman's passions was The Hole in the Wall Gang, a camp for children with cancer and other serious illnesses. IReporter Michelle Poole says she was able to spend the entire day with Newman at a property near Seattle in 2007.
She says the site would soon join Newman's worldwide network of camps. And you can learn more about the program at holeinthewallgang.org.
Well, "Hud," "Fast Eddie," and "Cool Hand Luke," remember those great movies? Paul Newman played them all. And we'll miss him dearly. Leonard Maltin joins me on with more on Newman's life and his legacy. We'll talk to him in just a moment.
Also, our other big story here tonight. Live pictures from Capitol Hill. Lawmakers vowing not to leave until they save this country from possible financial ruin. They're up all night, and we're up all night, too, with the very latest for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH TAYLOR AS MAGGIE: You know what I feel like? I feel all of the time like a cat on a hot tin roof.
NEWMAN AS BRICK: Then jump off the roof, Maggie, jump off it. Now cats jump off roofs and they land uninjured. Do it. Jump.
TAYLOR AS MAGGIE: Jump where? Into what?
NEWMAN AS BRICK: Take a lover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What a great movie. That role was Brick, opposite Elizabeth Taylor in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." It earned Paul Newman, a Best Actor nomination in 1958. And film critic Leonard Maltin from "Entertainment Tonight" joins us now from Los Angeles.
We were talking here in the break about Paul Newman. And people have been saying to me all day, all of the stars and people who knew him that he really wasn't a Hollywood guy, he was just as down to earth as you could get, but just happened to be a movie star, Mr. Maltin.
LEONARD MALTIN, FILM CRITIC: That's right. And you know, when you referred to -- I mean, your story before, as a Hollywood couple or a Hollywood marriage, it's not really accurate, because he never lived in Hollywood. He worked in Hollywood. Whenever there was work here, he lived here for that duration, and then went back home to Connecticut.
And he and Joanne Woodward, I think made a very deliberate and very intelligent choice to live their lives away from show business, as much as possible. And they forged for themselves a private life, which so many celebrities and so many stars wish they could have.
LEMON: And you know, you said you interviewed him only once. You got the chance to interview him. Of course you reviewed a number of his movies.
MALTIN: Sure.
LEMON: And you got to interview him for the "The Hudsucker Proxy," which was just a fantastic, and sort of an off beat, unusual movie. He sort of spanned in everything.
MALTIN: Well, yes. But I mean, that is just something about him, too, Don. You know, he was willing to do off beat and unusual movies, especially in later years. He was looking for a challenge. He didn't want to do junk. He didn't want to ever sentimentalize himself as some older actors do, because you know there aren't as many parts when you get to certain age. And he tried to dodge that.
He was looking for interesting, challenging, unusual roles. I love "Nobody's fool," a film he made in the early '90s. I think that's one of his best. But there are so many great films.
(CROSSTALK)
When I was going to interview him that one time, all my colleagues at "ET" said, ask him how many hard-boiled eggs he had to eat for that scene in "Cool Land Luke". So that was my obligatory question, and he said, not one. It was all an illusion.
LEMON: Well, here is the interesting thing, he was very thought out very methodically. He wasn't a sound byte machine was he, when you interviewed him.
MALTIN: No, he wasn't. He's anything but. You didn't get a glib answer from him. He was a very intelligent man, and he approached everything, even an interview, the same way he would prepare for a role. He thought about it, carefully. And then gave you the answer.
He told me that when he was examining scripts, and he still got sent, of course, lots and lots of scripts, he would study them. He would read them carefully. He would make a lot of notes in the margins. So then he would have questions to ask the writer or the director. Because he wanted answers before he was going to tackle a character and commit himself to making a movie. That's the kind of person he was.
LEMON: Leonard Maltin, thank you, sir. We appreciate it.
MALTIN: My pleasure. Somebody that I don't think we'll have to worry if he is going to be remembered. Those films are going to last a long time and his legacy is going to continue along with it.
LEMON: He absolutely will. And I just got an e-mail I want to tell you and our viewers as well. From Roger Ebert who has also suffered with cancer. And he said, "Don, Paul Newman was one of the rare stars who can be described as beloved. He is a maverick, and we will miss him." That is from Roger Ebert. Thank you very much, sir.
MALTIN: Very good.
LEMON: Meantime, we want to move on now. Talk about people on the Gulf Coast. They might be used to hurricane watches, but what about New England? Well, that's right. That's where we're getting ready for Kyle and it is coming their way.
And a storm of a different sort we are following tonight from Capitol Hill. It is a financial storm. It is keeping lawmakers up late tonight. And we're up as well following every development.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: We have been telling you for quite a while now that this country is on the verge of a possible financial collapse. And we are following the very latest developments for you tonight on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers work through the night to try to come up with some sort of a solution to this problem. Take a look at these live pictures now.
We're hearing that an announcement is coming soon in all of this. That's why we're bringing you these live pictures. Our Brianna Keilar is working this story from Capitol Hill tonight. She will join us in just a little bit to talk about a possible solution tonight that lawmakers may have reached an agreement on this $700 billion plus bailout of our financial system.
Also, our Ed Henry was standing by today, getting the information for us from Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.
Brianna Keilar, we want to join Brianna now. Brianna joins us from Capitol Hill.
Brianna, as we look at these live pictures from inside of the Capitol building and as we hear there is a possible agreement, I'm sure you're checking with your sources there. Tell us what you are hearing.
KEILAR: Yes. What we have on the ground right there, Don, a picture that you are looking at is we have a whole, basically, crew of producers. We understand this meeting between not just the principals, those four key negotiators, but also other key Democrats and as well some Republicans. That meeting has broken up. That at this point apparently if you go towards reaching that man standing off there in the distance, you can look into near Speaker Pelosi's office and see that there are quite a few members of Congress who are standing around there.
And we heard just a short time ago from Speaker Pelosi's spokesman that this group of principals, at least, perhaps some other members of Congress, are going to be coming out to our camera position there, where you just have dozens of reporters waiting by.
Now, that was a few minutes ago, and we were told it was going to be less than five minutes. So what we're looking for here is some type of announcement. And, of course, one of the big questions is, is there going to be an agreement. Is there going to be an agreement between all of the different parties in this? House Republicans, Senate Republicans, House Democrats, Senate Democrats. And is that going to give them a place, Don, where they can therefore -- where they can move on from that, and write some legislation, a bill, that can be voted on.
LEMON: And as we get close to this announcement of a possible agreement, Brianna, talk to me about the sticking points, if you will. Because this has been in the works for quite some time over a week now, and the president has been saying to lawmakers, we need to get this done as soon as possible. His words were, I believe, that the financial systems are not operating or working properly, and we need to get that in order. Talk to us about the sticking points and what may have taken this long to get to this point.
KEILAR: Well, you remember about a week ago, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson came to The Hill and said, $700 billion in taxpayer money to bail out the financial markets. And you heard everyone basically say, wait a second, that is a lot of money. There's no conditions on it. So basically, Congressional Democrats, as well as Senate Republicans said, OK, but we want to see some oversight. We want to see some taxpayer protection. We want to see limits on CEO pay, because we don't want taxpayers paying for golden parachutes.
But then this whole thing hit quite a bit of a hiccup on, I think it was Thursday evening. House Republicans really having a fundamental disagreement with how this is being paid for. They don't want taxpayer dollars to pay for the bailout of Wall Street. So their proposal instead would include some private money, some private investment dollars into paying for that. You heard Gerri Willis a short time ago, Don, talking about having corporations paying into an insurance pool -- government-back insurance, and sort of shouldering some of the burden of pain for the bailout.
LEMON: And it's very interesting, because if they had not reached an agreement, our Gerri Willis was telling us we may get to a point, Brianna, where we wouldn't get our paychecks because companies borrow against that money -- borrow the money to make payment, to make payroll, and we may not be able to get money out of the ATM, explaining just how our system worked. It is standard operating procedure, but it's interesting to hear that.
Also tonight, some interesting color from you, Brianna, as you were watching things unfold on Capitol Hill. We heard that Harry Reid walked by near your camera location. Also other lawmakers, you know, looking a little unkempt, because they're working hard, talking about this is going to be a long night and they weren't going to leave that building until they came up with an agreement.
KEILAR: Yes, it was a strange situation where at one point this group of negotiators kind of broke up into smaller groups. They were sort of moving around between the different rooms where they were, talking, taking papers over to another group, just having, you know, discussions. It seemed kind of frenzied. Obviously, not your typical Saturday night here on Capitol Hill. Very unusual.
And we actually heard at one point Senator Kent Conrad, who is Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, saying that they at one point, talked on the phone to some outside experts, including Warren Buffett, which is pretty interesting. But, yes, you know you mentioned, Don, where Gerri was talking about the idea of going to the ATM and not being able to get money or not being able to get a car loan. I mean, unfathomable to most Americans, and I think that really drives it home with what these members of Congress are facing. The fear of in action here. You can just sense it.
LEMON: Brianna, I don't know if you can see the pictures here. We see Nancy Pelosi walking up and you can stay with me here, but we see Nancy Pelosi, we see Harry Reid and other lawmakers. We also see Chris Dodd standing by. There's Henry Paulson in the background, Brianna, along with of course security people. I also see Rahm Emmanuel from Illinois walking up to the microphone. And what we're hearing is there is some sort of agreement. So they're coming to the mikes, Brianna.
I want you to listen to this and then help me on the other side sort of make some sense of all of this that's going on, since this is your beat and you're used to covering this. But obviously, this is a huge moment here, one of the biggest rescues of our financial systems ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: Good evening. For the last several hours, the chairs of our committees, Mr. Frank and Mr. Dodd, as well as Senator Judd and Mr. Blunt, representing the House Republicans, have worked with Secretary Paulson and others from the administration to resolve our differences so that we can go forward with a package to stabilize the markets. Most importantly, to protect the U.S. taxpayers.
We had agreed in principle a number of days ago on issues that related to oversight, related to, again, protecting the taxpayer by having equity in the upside, and whatever transactions took place by having forbearance in terms of mortgage foreclosures and by addressing the issue of executive compensation.
Again, all of this is done in a way to insulate the Main Street and everyday Americans from the crisis on Wall Street. And in doing so, as I say, bring stability to the markets as we try to turn around our economy and protect our taxpayer.
We have made great progress. We have to get it -- commit it to paper, so that we can complete -- formally agree. But I want to congratulate all of the negotiators for the great work that they have done.
I want to acknowledge the right chairman, Mr. Frank, and Rahm Emmanuel who represented the House Democrats on the team, and others will acknowledge their representatives, as well. And I particularly want to thank Secretary Paulson for his endurance, for the knowledge he brings to this subject and for his determination that we would get a job done in order to send a good, strong message to the markets. With that, I'm pleased to yield to the distinguished majority leader of the Senate, Senator Reid.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: It's been a very long day. Quite frankly, a long week. This evening has been extremely difficult. We've had a number of calls at the White House and others. And I have to say, the breakthrough came about an hour ago. With speaker coming with an idea that hadn't been formulated, but it was enough to get, I think, this so we can commit it to paper. And I really appreciate and admire the work that she has done, her patience. We've all need a lot of patience.
I so appreciate the work done by Chairman Dodd. He has led the charge in the Senate, and it has been extremely difficult. But he has had some real good help. He has had the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Max Baucus. He has had the Chairman of the Budget Committee, Kent Conrad, and someone who knows the markets as well as anybody in the Senate, Charles Schumer.
Mr. Secretary, we have had a lot of pleasant words, and some that haven't always been pleasant. But I really appreciate your hard work. It's been extremely difficult. This is a new environment for the Secretary Paulson in the political world, but it's one that he has been educated in very quickly over the past week. We look forward tomorrow. We think that we should have an announcement sometime tomorrow, but you know we are committing it to paper tonight. Our people will work all night long.
Mr. Secretary?
HENRY PAULSON, TREASURY SECRETARY: Madam Speaker, Mr. Leader, let me add to what you have said, and said we begin with a very important task, a task to stabilize the markets, to protect all Americans. And do it in a way in which it protects the taxpayers to the maximum length possible. And so we've been working very hard on this. And we've made great progress toward a deal which will work and will be effective in the marketplace, and, you know, effective for all Americans.
So, again, I -- you know, I thank the speaker, I thank the leader, I thank, you know, all of the leaders in the Senate and the House, and we've been working on this for a long time. We've still got more to do to finalize it. But I think we're there, and our staffs will be working all night, and, again, so far, so good.
REID: Secretary Gregg -- Secretary Gregg? Senator Gregg.
I'll take either job. First off, I want to thank the tremendously hard work put in by both sides of the aisle and both sides of the Capitol. And I especially wanted to thank and express my appreciation to Secretary Paulson.
SEN. JUDD GREGG (R) NEW HAMPSHIRE: What we have here is dramatic progress towards accomplishing something that is critical to the American people. We can't underestimate what we face as a threat relative to the fiscal meltdown and the impact it will have on Main Street. This isn't -- this is about people's jobs, it's about people's savings, it's about people's ability to participate in commerce, send their kids to school and be able to borrow money to run their small businesses.
And so, the action is critical, and we have to take it promptly, and the Congress is responding. And I think we can say that we are on track to doing something that will be very substantive and appropriate to address this issue.
REP. ROY BLUNT (R), MINORITY WHIP: Well, as you all know, house republicans were very concerned this week that we do everything we could to bring those free market principles and protections for taxpayers to the table, and other people in these negotiations wanted to do many of those same things. We need to look and see where we are on paper tomorrow, but through the day and the evening today with Jim McCrery, with Spencer Baucus, with our leader John Boehner, Eric Cantor and others, we've been talking about how we could make these things work in a way that our conference could come together.
We'll be looking at the final wording of this tomorrow, talking to my colleagues, and really I'm grateful where we are. I think we are going to be able to have an announcement tomorrow, but these are difficult issues, and everybody showed lots of patience.
I've been involved in the last few years in a lot of these conferences that could be pretty tense and pretty complicated. And people really showed patience in this one that got us to where we are tonight. And I'm grateful for that. And look forward to what we're going to see on paper tomorrow, and presenting these ideas to my colleagues and getting the reaction from them that we'll have in the morning and during the day tomorrow.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), BANKING COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: No, just on behalf of -- let's just say, I want to thank Secretary Paulson, and thank you, Hank, for your work. And my colleague and counterpart, Bonnie Frank of the House Financial Services Committee. This has been a long nine days. I'm glad we are where we are. It's been unpleasant to have to go through all of this. But because of the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, as well as of course the Republican leadership, we're at a point where I think we can say something positive to the American people and others who are waiting to hear that we can come out of this crisis and protect, as pointed out early, the people who depend upon our government in these financial services to give them the jobs and the security they seek.
So this is an important moment. We'll wait to see the final word tomorrow, but there are a lot of people here, particularly the leadership here that's insisted we stay at this. And I thank them for that.
Barney?
REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), FINANCIAL SERVICE CHAIRMAN: All right. The good news is that it is entirely likely that within a few days, and I hope no one will be offended, I won't have to speak to almost any of the people who are now here.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
DODD: How grateful we are.
(LAUGHTER)
FRANK: Look, this was never going to be a bill that was going to make people happy, because no solution to a problem can be more elegant than the problem itself. We are dealing with a very difficult problem, caused by some policy issues that we're going to have to address next year. Given the dimensions of the problem, I believe we have done a good job of trying to resolve it. It includes genuine compromise. An idea originally proposed by the Bush administration, and then subject to a process in which other points and values were added to it. So I do think we have reached as good a product as you can in this democracy, given all of the interest, and I -- as I said, look forward to being able to finally take the action and everybody can go home.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Can you lay out what's the next (INAUDIBLE) the House floor tomorrow?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Is there anything that's off the table?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Just wanted to listen in to see if they would have any questions -- answer any questions here. OK, there you have the very latest from Barney Frank, providing the last words. He said finally, finally, they have made a commitment and come up with a deal. And a moment of lefty there, Barney Frank said in the next couple days, I probably won't speak to any of these people here. But this is a genuine compromise -- a genuine compromise between all levels of our government on both sides of the aisle -- Republican and Democrat.
I want to bring in now our Brianna Keilar who has been following this story all day long for us on Capitol Hill, and really following it from Washington all week, and as this has unfolded.
Brianna, very interesting to hear what Nancy Pelosi said, what all of the leaders said here, as they walked up to the microphones, basically saying, they have committed to it. They have to -- they've reached an agreement, but they want to commit on paper before they make the announcement of exactly what it is. But they feel that they are there.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we heard that from Harry Reid. He said, announcement tomorrow, committing it to paper tonight. So all of those members, they're staffs are going to be working into the night, another very long night for them. But the question, Don, that reporters did not get to ask and that I can tell you they wanted to ask was what exactly is the plan?
LEMON: Right. Right.
KEILAR: What's in it? What's not in it? And that's an unanswered question at this point. We heard from Nancy Pelosi earlier before this meeting began at about 3:00 p.m. Eastern, and she said that ultimately they were going to take this legislation. They were actually going to put it online, so that Americans could read it.
And I think right now, there's a lot of unanswered questions as to what is exactly in it. Because, you know, pretty vague. What did we hear Barney Frank say? You know, an idea proposed by the Bush administration, and other points have been added to it. Taxpayer protections, I mean, those are nice words. But they're also very vague. So a lot of unanswered questions.
LEMON: Yes, and you know, I want to go over some of this with you. And many people may be tuning in, because you know it's on a Saturday night, late in some places, 12:30 Eastern, really Sunday morning here on the East Coast.
If you are just tuning in to CNN, we have been watching lawmakers here live just moments ago on CNN saying they have reached an agreement on this financial bailout for our country's financial systems. And that they have made an agreement, but they want to commit to it on paper tomorrow. They're going to work through the night, still, to try to tie up some ends here. But by most accounts, they feel that they have -- they have made progress, and made an agreement here.
OK, let's get back to Brianna. Brianna, as I was listening to the folks here, listening to Barney Frank and Harry Reid and everyone, they said, it's been a long, long week. This has been an extremely long day. They've had calls to the White House today. They said the breakthrough came -- this was interesting to me, just moments ago, and then the breakthrough came from Nancy Pelosi who presented an idea that they hadn't thought of before. Did you catch that?
KEILAR: Yes, I heard Harry Reid say that, Don. So you have to consider that in a way, even though this is a show of bipartisanship --
LEMON: Right.
KEILAR: And they've come together for this, you're hearing a Democrat, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying there's a breakthrough...
LEMON: Talk about a Democrat.
KEILAR: Yes, talk about a Democrat. A breakthrough about an hour ago, speaker had an idea. He said something about, you know, it wasn't formulated but it allowed us to move on. I mean, we don't know what that is. I would be very interested to hear what Republicans say. We're not obviously going to hear that. But also you heard Nancy Pelosi say, you know, we had come to an agreement earlier on oversight, basically how the Treasury is going to spend this money, protections for taxpayers. Basically, helping out individual homeowners who may be facing foreclosure. She talked about the CEO pay limits. But we also heard Roy Blunt, who was the negotiator, the key negotiator on the part of House Republicans, who really were the holdups in this whole situation.
LEMON: That's what I was going to say, Brianna. We heard from the Republican side, and he did. He had good things to say about this, as well.
KEILAR: Yes, but also, also very vague, Don. He said, we did everything we could for free market principles. You know, to get free market principles to work in this, because the thing House Republicans didn't want really was, that it was all taxpayer money bailing out Wall Street, bailing out financial markets. They wanted private investment dollars to be in there. So, you know, we're hearing kind of the same things from both of them. It's going to be so interesting to see exactly what the specifics of this plan are.
LEMON: Yes, and also as people start to digest this, and I imagine lawmakers may come out and actually talk about what's going on, and may actually give up what's in this proposed agreement that they have reached here.
Brianna, I want you to stand by, because I have a couple more questions for you. But I want to get Ed Henry in on this. Ed Henry has been following all the developments from the White House all day long. And, of course, Ed is our White House correspondent on CNN.
Ed, you were listening to this press conference, this briefing that was held just moments ago about this agreement that they say that they are -- they want it committed on paper, but they feel that they have made significant progress, enough to come out and say, it's an agreement.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, obviously, they're saying they have an agreement in principle. But I think as Brianna was pointing out, the devil will be in the details. I mean, they're saying they still have to commit it to paper. They want to look at it in the morning. That's understandable after working through the day and into the night. But that's a big, big red flag to see what actually is in this plan. And, you know, most importantly, will the conservative House Republicans who have raised so many questions throughout these negotiations, will they be on board?
And that's going to be my next phone call, as soon as we're done here, so I can try to get you an answer on that. And obviously, we need to talk to the White House, as well. It's in the middle of the night now, but they have been following this closely. And the fact that Henry Paulson was there lends a lot of credibility to the fact that he is essentially been the presidents right-hand man on this issue, and not just this bailout, but the previous one. So the clear deal here is that Secretary Paulson has, you know, the president's ear, and he has the authority to cut a deal. But let's see the details.
LEMON: OK. Ed, thank you very much. Ed, don't go anywhere. I know you want to make a phone call. If you can make that phone call and then come back on the other side of the break, I would really appreciate it. Of course, Ed and all of our correspondents in Washington have sources there in Washington. And we may actually get to find out what's in this agreement. In this proposed agreement, or at least this -- that they want to get committed to paper here.
So we may find out some details through the night. We're live here on CNN, and working all of this. Our Brianna Keilar is live on Capitol Hill. Ed Henry is in Washington, as well, working this story, and our financial folks in New York are working this story for you as well. Gerri Willis, our personal finance editor. We're back in a moment with this breaking news on CNN, with more information on this bailout plan, just seconds away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We're following breaking news here on CNN. Congress, leaders in Washington, the Bush administration have reached a tentative deal on financial markets, that bailout -- $700 billion bailout that we have been talking about. They have reached a tentative agreement. They want to commit it to paper tomorrow.
They say they will be working through the night to try to tie up some loose ends in all of this. Of course, this story has been going on for some time now, when the markets started to fail and lots of banks and credit lending agencies started to fail, as well.
Joining us now from Capitol Hill, Brianna Keilar. She's going to join us in just a moment to give us what she knows about this. This tentative deal. What might actually be in this deal? We want to get now to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi moments ago talking about the agreement that they have reached.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: Good evening. For the last several hours, the chairs of our committees, Mr. Frank and Mr. Dodd, as well as Senator Judd and Mr. Blunt, representing the House Republicans, have worked with Secretary Paulson and others from the administration to resolve our differences so that we can go forward with a package to stabilize the markets. Most importantly, to protect the U.S. taxpayers.
We had agreed in principle a number of days ago on issues that related to oversight, related to, again, protecting the taxpayer by having equity in the upside, and whatever transactions took place by having forbearance in terms of mortgage foreclosures and by addressing the issue of executive compensation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Nancy Pelosi, making that announcement moments ago on Capitol Hill. Now our Brianna Keilar is standing by. Brianna has been following this story.
Brianna, you were there live for that press conference and we heard her talk about that. And also the Minority Whip also, you know, saying that this is a good deal so far on both sides of the aisle. Getting any details about what is possibly in here? Of course, that's going to be the question, right?
KEILAR: Yes, at this point, Don, we don't have any details. I mean, you heard them speaking in broad strokes about what is in this plan. Speaker Pelosi saying -- basically, what we've heard her say before. That this is a plan from the Bush administration. We heard that from Barney Frank, actually. A plan that came from the Bush administration, so he is talking there about the $700 billion in taxpayer money to bail out financial markets. But Pelosi talking about oversight, taxpayer protection, limiting CEO pay. But we also heard, as you referred to, Roy Blunt, who is the chief negotiator on the part of House Republicans, talking about we did the best we could to allow free market principles to work in this, because remember, the House Republicans didn't really want taxpayer money to be in this at all, bailing out financial markets. They certainly didn't want that to be the only thing that was infused into the financial markets.
Now, I do have some new information. This comes from CNN producer Deirdre Walsh. She got this from a House Democratic leadership aide, just so that we have an idea of how to characterize this breakthrough. And it is fair to call it a breakthrough, we've been told. But I do want to stress, Don, not a done deal.
Because according to this House Democratic leadership aide, basically what they have come to is an agreement on the framework of legislation. These key players here, these four principles as we've been calling them, the House Democrat, House Republican, Senate Democrat and Senate Republican and then those other key players you saw there coming out to the microphone.
They need to take this agreement that they have between them and then take it back to their rank and file members and make sure that they have buy-in with those members. They still have a lot of details to work out, and Don, you know what they say about the details.
LEMON: Yes, the devils in the detail. You heard our Ed Henry say that as well. And that, you know, according to the Associated Press is calling it a tentative deal. Nancy Pelosi said a breakthrough. Those are the words that she used, and most people there at that press conference, that a significant breakthrough. And they said that they believed that they were there.
Basically, indicating that they thought that this was, as close to a deal as they would get now. But, again, Brianna, the interesting thing is that they said even though they've reached this breakthrough and significant progress, they're still not going home, because they want to present this to the American people as soon as they can, as early as tomorrow morning.
KEILAR: Yes. Well, it's possible, keep in mind, that the members may soon be going home. But their staffs -- they get the short end of the stick here, and they're going to be up all night, drafting something, putting it down on paper as they said.
Yes, we heard Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader Democrat, saying we're expect an announcement tomorrow and we're committing this to paper tonight. But I think one of the reasons that we're so careful, Don, about exactly how we characterize what this is -- is it a breakthrough, is it an agreement, is it a deal, and the reason we ask those careful questions is because you saw what happened on Thursday morning.
LEMON: Right.
KEILAR: We saw members come out and say that they had a fundamental agreement on principle, only to find out that Thursday night, the person who was representing the House Republicans, it seemed, actually was not really representing the House Republicans. The House Republicans seemed to be a ship without a captain. But then come yesterday, it appeared that ship did have a captain in the form of Roy Blunt. So it appears, at least at this negotiation, you had four key members representing the -- basically deputized, given this ability to negotiate on behalf and do the bidding of their unit in Congress.
LEMON: Absolutely, Brianna. Significant breakthrough, great progress, a breakthrough. That's what they're calling it. And they want to be very careful about the language, as well. And, again, as I said, the Associated Press was calling it a tentative deal here.
Brianna, we want to get back to you, so don't go anywhere, because this is very interesting stuff here. This is what we have been waiting for for quite some time for members of Congress to come out and say, hey, we are working here, and we've made some progress and that's what's happening right now.
Working the phones for us from Washington, CNN's White House correspondent Ed Henry.
What did you find out, Ed?
HENRY: I've just spoken -- got off the phone a moment ago with White House Spokesman Tony Fratto. He had encouraging words for this, but I think the caution is still out there that this is not a done deal. Tony Fratto said, quote, "We are very pleased with the progress made tonight in these discussions." He also said that they are pleased by the, quote, "hard work on both sides of the aisle."
So you have obviously all sides as you saw at the press conference congratulating each other. Now, White House Spokesman Tony Fratto also congratulating lawmakers on both sides. And, again, on progress made tonight in these discussions.
You've got to watch that language very closely. I pressed Tony on whether the president has signed off on this deal yet. He told me that the president has been in frequent contact with Josh Bolton, his chief of staff, who has been in the loop on these negotiations. He also said that the president spoke directly this evening, something we didn't know about, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They had direct talks in the last couple of hours. So, that in the words of Tony Fratto, the White House spokesman, the president has very much been aware of where things stood.
But, again, I press, so has the president signed off on this, and Tony finally said, quote, "the White House is very pleased with the progress." It's not a yes. That's not the president signed off on this yet.
So, I think, he's not saying no deal. He's just saying, we're pleased with the progress. This is going to be committed to paper as the lawmakers said overnight. And presumably at that point when it's on paper, the president of the United States will see it, the Treasury secretary will present the whole thing to him, then maybe we'll have a sign-off. So I think these are encouraging signs perhaps towards the deal. Framework, if you will, but it's not signed off quite yet by the president.
LEMON: It's very interesting that we're sort of counting and hedging here, because just listening to that press conference and, you know, everyone was praising each other, it would lend itself to thinking that there was -- in their minds, at least, that there was some sort of deal. But what we are saying is significant progress. Not a done deal yet. And that done deal, they say, could come as early as tomorrow morning, once they get this committed to paper. Ed Henry is --
HENRY: One other quick thing I want to say, Don, is that I also spoke a moment before speaking to the White House with the senior Republican aide on the House side, someone right in the middle of sort of where the House conservatives who have been balking at a deal in recent days is -- and he told me point blank, there is no deal, you know, quote, unquote, "deal." He said, sure, there is a framework, but said basically that sort of the House conservative leaders who have led the opposition, if you will, in recent days, have not officially signed off. So that is significant, as well.
LEMON: OK. All right, Ed Henry working the phones, as well. Our Brianna Keilar working her sources on Capitol Hill. We're going to see if we get anymore new information there. We're going to take a quick break and we're back in just a couple of seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It is breaking news here on CNN. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill touting significant progress in the $700 billion bailout plan of our financial systems. Let's get right now to Capitol Hill. Brianna Keilar with news developments.
Brianna, what are you learning?
KEILAR: Yes, we're just learning a little more information about exactly what all of that language was that we heard in that press conference a short time ago. According to Rahm Emmanuel, a Democratic leader in the House, he says there could be a vote as early as Monday.
And according to Democratic sources, don, you know that moment that we heard Harry Reid talked about where he sort of credited House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with the moment of the breakthrough. He said he came about an hour before the press conference. Well, according to Democratic sources, there was actually a bit of a snag on the issue of CEO pay limits.
You know, we've talked a lot about that. That's something that enrages people, the fact that taxpayer money could go for this bailout and some of that money could go to pay for hefty annual salaries and golden parachutes for CEOs. Well, apparently, it came up as a major issue during these discussions, even though we thought it kind of been put to bed before.
So Reid crediting Pelosi for coming up with some language about this issue of executive compensation, and, apparently, you know, we saw that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, they kind of came in to these negotiations late into the game, and apparently that happened about an hour before that press conference, this breakthrough that -- or language that Reid credits Pelosi with. But, yes, Don, again, vote as early as Monday. That's what we're hearing from Rahm Emmanuel.
LEMON: OK. And Rahm Emmanuel, of course, from Illinois, congressman from Illinois. And you know, if folks don't know who he is, he's the man credited with in 2006, at least, or -- yes, 2006 for getting the congressional takeover -- the Democratic takeover of Congress. He supposedly was a person who handle that.
All right, listen, you were talking about Harry Reid in all of this. We want to get to Harry Reid and listen to what he said moments ago, Brianna. And I want you to take a listen and then we can talk about the specifics on the other side of this sound byte. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Difficult. We've had a number of calls at the White House and others. And I have to say, the breakthrough came about an hour ago. With speaker coming with an idea that hadn't been formulated, but it was enough to get, I think, this so we can commit it to paper.
I really appreciate and admire the work that she's done, her patience. We've all needed a lot of patience. I so appreciate the work done by Chairman Dodd. He has led the charge in the Senate, and it has been extremely difficult. But he has had some real good help.
He has had the chairman of the Finance Committee, Max Baucus, he's had the chairman of the Budget Committee, Kent Conrad, and someone who knows the markets as well as anybody in the Senate, Charles Schumer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, that was Majority Leader Harry Reid talking about this tentative -- tentative agreement, or as they say, significant progress made in this agreement just moments ago.
And that happened just a short time ago here on CNN live. We watched lawmakers come out.
Ed Henry is working the telephones, I'm being told by producers now, Ed -- there you go. And we're -- we want to know what you're hearing.
We heard from Brianna, she gave us some detail in her conversation with Rahm Emanuel in Illinois. What are you hearing on your end?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, from a senior House Democrat aide a little bit of new information on two fronts. One, on what you just heard from Harry Reid about what was this sort of breakthrough that Nancy Pelosi thought of.
I don't have all of the details about it, but broad brush. I'm still poking for more information. It's on the question of how do you protect taxpayers? So many conservative Republicans, in particular, as well as Democrats, but the real opposition from conservative Republicans has been -- why do you put taxpayers on the hook for $700 billion? How do you protect them?
And I'm told by a senior Democratic aide that Nancy Pelosi, in the last couple hours, came up with some sort of a mechanism that she says will protect taxpayers. And, again, we've got to look at the fine print, so that taxpayers sort of will not be on the hook.
There will be some other guarantees kicking in so that taxpayers will be paid back. I don't know if it's all of the $700 billion or some of the $700 billion, still digging on that.
Second point is, sort of how this went down. There was a meeting that wrapped up about 6:00 p.m. then they broke for dinner -- a little bit of a break. They were supposed to come back at 7:00 p.m., and that meeting did not really happen.
I'm told that that no phone call I mentioned from the White House saying that there was a phone call between Pelosi -- Speaker Pelosi and the president. I'm now told by a Democratic aide that happened about 8:20 p.m. Eastern Time tonight.
Speaker Pelosi and President Bush where presumably she started talking about this very issue about dealing with taxpayers, protecting them. And then at about 9:00 Eastern Time, Speaker Pelosi returned to her office in the Capitol after talking to the president, negotiating a little bit, going back and forth.
She sat down in her office with Senator Reid, with Secretary Paulson from the Treasury Department, and other senators and House members. And then between 9:00 and midnight here when we saw this news break, those three hours there, and that window, is when they really did the heavy lifting.
But a final note is this senior Democratic aide is reiterating what I heard from the White House which is the words they're using, "framework of an agreement" and "you have to put everything on paper." This aide adding, "will have to review it carefully."
So a breakthrough not quite a deal just yet. And it looks like -- the breakthrough came from Speaker Pelosi having some sort of idea on the issue of how to protect taxpayers so taxpayers are, essentially, not dealing with a blank check, as critics have said, that it was going to be a blank check to sort of bail out Wall Street.
Robert Barron's, in the words of the critic, some sort of taxpayer protection. So I'm going to make some more calls. I'll get back to you. But that's the bottom line.
LEMON: Yes, we are working this story for you. Thank you, very much, Ed Henry.
And you know, as we said, not a done deal yet, but they're saying significant progress, significant progress. And just from the looks of it and the tone of that press conference, Ed and Brianna, it appears that they believe what they're saying and they want to commit this to paper so we're looking at the possibility of something working out with this as soon as tomorrow and possibly Monday.
Brianna Keilar, Ed Henry, both working the story. CNN will bring you the very latest on this. If anything happens overnight, you'll get it right here. All of the details on CNN.
And meantime, at the debate, just last night, the economy was front and center. In fact, it was the first question. We want to go back now to the debate, the next president. We join that now.
