Obama Blames GOP For Bad Economy

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STEVE INSKEEP, host:

And in fact, this morning, Senator Obama did have something else to say about the financial crisis. This announced to a tweak, if you will, of the bailout legislation. Obama says he wants to add this to it. He wants to expand federal-deposit insurance for families and small businesses. Right now, as many people know, if you put money in the bank, the deposit is insured up to $100,000.

Obama wants to more than double that limit to 250,000 dollars, and he says in a statement, he'll offer that proposal to leaders and members of Congress today. And he, like Senator John McCain, called on them to pass a rescue package without delay.

It is not clear how many votes would be swayed by this proposal from Obama, nor is it clear how it would affect the larger bailout package, which has to do with buying assets from Wall Street, and does not deal directly with bank insurance. You may be wondering if the House's failure to pass that 700 billion-dollar bailout plan will be felt at the polls in November.

You can visit npr.org/map to see which House seats are the most vulnerable in the election coming up in November.

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