Bailout Blueprint: Bank Rescue Plan Undecided (Update)

Updated from 12:41 p.m. EDT

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Lawmakers and the Bush administration stressed Friday they aim to approve a plan to rescue the financial sector before the markets open on Monday, despite political wrangling that threatened to derail the deal.

President George Bush stressed the urgency of the situation and was resolute that some type of legislation would be passed.

"There are disagreements over aspects of the rescue plan but there are no disagreements that something substantial must be done," Bush said Friday morning during a press conference, at which he made a brief statement but did not take questions.

"The legislative process is sometimes not very pretty," he added. "But we are going to get a package passed. We will rise to the occasion. Republicans and Democrats will come together and pass a substantial rescue plan."

The stalemate -- which came after a day of assurances that a deal was nearly complete -- was both surprising and strange. It pinned conservative Republicans on one side against Democrats and the Bush administration on the other. That unusual alliance of Democrats and the current Republican administration formed after the two joined forces to hammer out major differences in just a couple of days.

The urgency Bush expressed became even more evident as the biggest bank failure in history occurred. Washington Mutual (WM Quote) collapsed under the strain of its bad mortgage loans late Thursday night, with the FDIC taking over the thrift and JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote) acquiring its branches and deposits at a fire-sale price.