Pelosi Wants A Deal By Tonight
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) just told a group of reporters gathered outside her office that she would like negotiators to produce an agreement on the economic rescue package by tonight so members had time to digest it, Politico's Marty Kady reports from the scrum.
Pelosi made her remarks as the negotiators streamed into her office, and that group is much bigger than expected; instead of just the four principals, a number of other prominent Democrats, including Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.), Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (N.D.) and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer also entered the meeting.
This leaves House Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri and New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg severely outnumbered as the only Republicans in the room. Oh yeah, and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. But he's been at loggerheads with the House GOP for the last week, so he they might not be singing from the same songbook on this one.