Obama calls bailout a 'blank check'

"It's kind of hard to tell the average American that we're going to continue to have foreclosures that destabilize neighborhoods and deprive cities of revenues they need, but we're going to buy up the bad paper," Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said on "Face the Nation."

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), who, with Frank, will play a leading role in moving legislation, said on ABC's "This Week" that the foreclosure crisis must be addressed. "The cause of this problem is still the foreclosure crisis," he said. "So it needs to be part of the solution."

John Sweeney, the president of the AFL-CIO, an important Democratic constituency, urged Democratic leaders to insist that any bailout include a moratorium on home foreclosures and an economic recovery package that includes extended unemployment benefits, aid to state and local governments and spending for infrastructure projects.

And Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said today that while it was important "to resolve this crisis and restore our financial sector so capital is flowing again and we can avert an even broader economic catastrophe," he issued a set of principles that included strong oversight, protections for taxpayers, assistance for distressed homeowners and limits on the potential funding.

But the White House and its Republican congressional allies are pushing to keep the bail out free of other measures.