It’s possible that a bailout bill might come sooner rather than later.  Earlier, CNN was reporting that Democrats and Republicans in Congress were making a good amount of progress.  Then a couple hours ago, Reuters had an interview with House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank that House and Senate Democrats say they have come up with a bill.

CNN:

In a show of unity, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader, John Boehner, R.-Ohio, said Tuesday evening that they are working closely with the administration and “have made progress” on hammering out a deal.

“We agree that key changes should be made to the administration’s initial proposal,” they said in joint statement. “It must include basic good-government principles, including rigorous and independent oversight, strong executive compensation standards, and protection for taxpayers.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said that the Senate is getting closer, but will not rush through a plan that “will have implications for decades to come.”

Reuters:

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank said on Wednesday Democrats had reached an agreement to stem one of the worst U.S. financial disasters in decades, and that there would be enough votes to pass the measure and send it to President George W. Bush to sign into law.

“We now have between House and Senate Democrats an agreement on what we think should be in the bill, and we have a meeting scheduled at 10 a.m. tomorrow to meet with the Republicans,” said Frank, chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.

According to the CNN article, Treasury Secretary Paulson has additionally agreed to CEO compensation limits for companies who participate in the legislation’s bailout program.

So, House Democratic leaders say they have a bill, and unless it’s drastically different than what was being worked on earlier today, the Republican leadership shouldn’t have many qualms with it.  So now it’s a thing of making sure it is loaded with a bunch of crap meant to either balloon the price or kill it.  You can bet that the free marketers in Congress will have their bit to say, particularly once it gets to the floor.

Yet, they might be silenced for this one.  I have some sympathy for them, but I also understand something has to be done, and on the whole, it’s probably a good thing that for once, the Democrats are not passing a bill blindly.  As for the politics involved in it, they might have some good points, but they’d better hope that anything they do doesn’t kill the bill, or there will be explaining to do back in their home districts come November 4th.

In all, I can see the merits of the program, but it needs some pretty tight oversight by Congress.  I don’t care who gets the White House next January.  This needs oversight, and passing any bill without it would be insane.

I assume the bill will pass the House quickly, but it might take longer in the Senate.  I would be surprised to see anything sent to the President by the end of this week.  Very surprised.

Then again, weirder things have happened.