WASHINGTON -- Democratic leaders in Congress are praising a $700 billion rescue package for the financial industry as a vital move to shore up the sagging economy.

PDF: Bailout Bill | Dodd | Pelosi | Boehner

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that the proposal is not a Wall Street bailout. Instead, she called it a buy-in to help the economy get turned around.

"No longer will the U.S. taxpayer bail out Wall Street, and that's the message," Pelosi said late Sunday. "It's not about a bailout of Wall Street … it's for the people saving for the education of their children, so small businesses can get credit."

Pelosi spoke to reporters at the Capitol just after the final legislation was released Sunday evening and as House Republicans and Democrats met privately to review details and gauge support.

A House vote is planned for Monday. Senators are to follow later this week.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said Congress won important concessions from the Bush administration in negotiating the bill. He said the White House wanted a blank check and lawmakers would not agree to that.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said hearings will be set this fall to look into what precipitated the banking crisis. Reid said quick action was necessary to prevent paralysis of the country's economy.

"Every American has an interest in fixing this crisis," Reid said. "Even now it's difficult for people to get a car loan. Even now it's difficult ... to get a student loan. The market is frozen for houses in many neighborhoods in our country. We've got to change this and that's what this legislation is all about."

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said the bill calls for any shortfall from the government's later sale of the securities it buys to be made up by the financial companies that are bailed out. That provision kicks in after five years.

The rescue is the largest government intervention in financial markets since the Great Depression. It would let the government take over huge amounts of devalued assets from beleaguered financial companies in hopes of unlocking frozen credit.

Bush Welcomes Accord

President George W. Bush is welcoming the economic rescue plan as "a very good bill."

A statement from the White House said Bush is confident Congress "will do what is best for our economy" by approving the measure promptly.

The basic plan was proposed more than a week ago by the administration and modified during intense, and at times testy bargaining with key lawmakers.

In the statement, the president said the plan provides the "necessary tools and funding" to help protect the economy against the danger of a systemwide breakdown.

Who Wins, Who Loses?

The plan creates a lot of potential short-term winners, as well as some losers.

Wall Street and the banking industry are perhaps the biggest winners. They can start making loans again because the Treasury Department will start buying up their troubled mortgage-related securities. The agreement authorizes Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. "to establish a troubled asset relief program, or ‘‘TARP,’’ to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, troubled assets from any financial institution, on such terms and conditions as are determined by the secretary," the agreement says in part.

If the bailout works as intended, there will be other winners, too: anyone trying to borrow money for cars or student loans, or even to open new credit-card accounts.

But top executives at troubled financial institutions are in the losing column because the proposal limits how much they can be paid and essentially rules out so-called "golden parachutes" when they leave.

Investors, including the millions of people who have 401(k) and pension plans, should benefit. Failure to reach a deal could have sent global stock markets tumbling.

There's little help for homeowners faced with foreclosure or those who've lost their homes. And the plan won't help people whose houses are worth less than what they owe refinance or get an equity loan.

McCain, Obama React Coolly

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are gingerly embracing the newly negotiated congressional deal for stabilizing the financial industry. McCain said "doing nothing is simply not an acceptable option."

Interviewed Sunday by ABC's "This Week," McCain said, "This is something that all of us will swallow hard and go forward with."

McCain also said he probably would have voted for legislation to keep the government running even though it contains thousands of the type of pork barrel projects he strongly opposes.

McCain said he intends to return to full-time campaigning on Monday, after spending parts of several days in Washington because of negotiations on the bailout.

Meanwhile, Obama said he's inclined to back it because he thinks "Main Street is now at stake."

Obama said he is unhappy about the agreement, but that it is necessary.

Obama spoke in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Experts: No Quick Fix For Economy

If history is any indication, the $700 billion bailout plan isn't going to relieve the economy from more anguish -- at least right away.

Experts said it usually takes years to recover from a financial crisis severe enough for politicians to ride to the rescue with truckloads of taxpayer money.

The economy slipped into an eight-month recession in July 1990 following the government's August 1989 bailout of the savings-and-loan industry. Housing prices that had just begun to erode continued to fall for another three years.

The current crisis could lead to longer unemployment lines, as companies suffer through declining sales and limited access to credit and even more bank failures as cash-strapped borrowers don't repay loans.

The deputy dean of Yale Law School said in a best case scenario, the U.S. economy will bounce back within two years.