MR. FRATTO: Both, all of the above. Working with his staff here, talking to members of Congress, working with Secretary Paulson, hearing from the Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, and other regulators who have ideas and options and anything that can be constructive in terms of a way forward to try to get this legislation passed, because obviously the crisis we were dealing with before is still with us today. There's still evidence of that, that markets are under stress and the banking system is under stress, specific banks are under stress.

I think I told some of you this morning that -- you may have heard it from the Senators' offices -- that Senator McCain and Obama each called the President this morning. They offered constructive ideas and had a good conversation with the President. The President appreciated hearing from them and about their commitment to continue to work to try to get this problem solved, and to get legislation that will help the economy and that can get passed by both Houses of Congress.

So that's where we are today. The President has been meeting with his team and having conversations with his team here. I know -- a number of you have asked this morning who he is calling, who he's meeting with, and I just want to be clear, we're not going to read out every meeting and every call that the President has on this in coming days. There will be a lot of work that gets done, and what we are working on is the strategy and ways that we can -- whether it's augment the bill or strengthen the bill in ways that will, again, help the economy and be able to pass both Houses of Congress and that the President can sign.

Ben.

seen at 09:00, 30 September in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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