Congress closer to bailout deal

WASHINGTON (CNN) - House leaders Wednesday night said progress has been made in negotiations over a proposed $700 billion government bailout of the nation's financial system, as a key House committee took up the plan and the White House said that President Bush will address the nation in a prime-time speech.

"Working in a bipartisan manner, we have made progress," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a joint statement sent to CNN. "We agree that key changes should be made to the Administration's initial proposal. It must include basic good-government principles, including rigorous and independent oversight, strong executive compensation standards, and protection for taxpayers."

The House Financial Services Committee, led by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, grilled Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke over the details of the controversial proposal, the most sweeping federal intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression. It calls for the government to buy from firms up to $700 billion in troubled assets - mainly mortgage-backed securities - whose values declined as the housing market imploded. The goal is to stabilize the companies and prompt them to lend again.