Democratic congressional leaders reject administration proposal

Nancy Pelosi, in a statement released just now, said that Democrats will not "simply hand over a $700 billion blank check to Wall Street and hope for a better outcome." This comes as many economists agree that a speedy passage of the government bailout may be the only way to keep the world financial markets from complete meltdown.
Also, Sen,. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) said "We will do something this week — but if we learned anything from right after 9/11, it’s that the biggest mistake is to pass anything they ask for just because it’s an emergency.”
The 110th congress, which has a slight Democratic majority and faces dismal approval ratings, has given in to the Bush administration on almost every major issue, from Iraq war funding, to FISA, to this year's energy bill, has been criticized by Republicans and the media for being a cesspool of partisan gridlock, backroom deals, and very little action on major issues, faces it's biggest test with the global markets literally days away from one of the worst crises of the last 100 years.
With everyone looking to their elected officials right now for respite and leadership on probably the most important issue of the entire election campaign, Democratic leaders are under extreme pressure to prove they can deliver when the metal meets the meat, and would do a lot to reassure voters that an Obama administration in conjunction with a Democratic majority congress, would deliver solutions to real problems and that they can be trusted at the helm of government, at one of the most crucial times in history.