White House Caves on Golden Parachutes

The White House bowed on a crucial change in the $700 billion bailout today ahead of a speech tonight in which President Bush hopes to pull loudly resistant lawmakers on board. Republican officials said Henry Paulson agreed to demands from critics in both parties to limit the “golden parachute” money for executives whose companies could benefit from the proposed bailout.

That has been an emotional sticking point in the struggle to win congressional approval of the historic rescue of the financial industry, though the money involved with the pay packages would be relatively insignificant compared with the huge sums being talked about.
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