Lawmakers Agree on Bailout Plan

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Lawmakers have reached agreement on a bipartisan counterproposal to the Bush administration's $700 billion financial bailout plan.

Both parties and the House and Senate agreed Thursday to a set of principles on revisions to the rescue plan, which calls for the Treasury Department to buy up bad mortgage securities from banks in an effort to get them to lend again.

The proposal will help homeowners, curb executive pay packages at participating firms and provide oversight of Treasury's actions, said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., a key architect of the congressional effort. He did not provide details but said lawmakers will sit down with Treasury officials to discuss it.

"We've reached a fundamental agreement on a set of principles, one, for taxpayers, which is tremendously important," Dodd said. "We're very confident we can act expeditiously."

Administration officials said they were pleased that progress is being made.

"We'll want to hear from Secretary Paulson, and take a look at the details," said Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman. "We look forward to a good discussion at the meeting this afternoon."

The provisions Congress wants to add to the administration's plan should make Americans "legitimately feel better about the overall approach," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who heads the House Financial Services Committee.

Taxpayers would be protected under the congressional version of the bailout, said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee. Congress' additions to the proposal call for the Treasury to be "reimbursed for their expenditures," he said.

Lawmakers said they wanted to send a message to the markets to calm down. Wall Street heard the message, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 300 points after the agreement was announced. It then settled back to a gain of 250 points.