Today, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged Congress to pass a $700 billion financial bailout.  They warned that letting problems persist would have dire consequences for the national economy, reports the AP.

“If financial conditions fail to improve for a protracted period, the implications for the broader economy could be quite adverse,” Bernanke says in his prepared for a panel being held later today.

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Democrats are pushing back on the bailout planoffered by the Bush Administration, specifically with legislation that would cut the salaries of the CEO’s whose firms participate in the bailout and by adding more oversight provisions, reports The Washington Post.

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Democrat Barack Obama called Friday for a globally coordinated financial rescue plan that puts the taxpayers on Main Street ahead of the imprudent investors on Wall Street, reports the AP.

To learn about his plan, click here.

Today, the Bush administration sketched out a multi-faceted effort to confront the financial crisis.  The program could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars to buy up bad mortgages and other toxic debt that has unhinged Wall Street, reports the AP.

Bush acknowledged that the program will put a “significant amount of taxpayers’ money on the line.”

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President Bush addressed the concerns of the public today with a speech on the economy.

“The American people are concerned about the situation in our financial markets and our economy,” Bush said. “And I share their concerns.”

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Former White House press secretary Tony Snow — who once told reporters “I’m a very lucky guy” — died at the age of 53 early Saturday after a second battle with cancer. (Source: CNN)