Bush: Economic rescue deal 'very shortly'

US President George W Bush, hosting unprecedented economic crisis talks at the White House, said he hoped to reach an agreement "very shortly" with lawmakers on a rescue package.

"My hope is that we can reach an agreement very shortly," Bush said yesterday as he met with congressional leaders as well as White House rivals John McCain and Barack Obama in his cabinet room in a bid "to move the process forward."

"One thing the American people have to know is that all of us around the table take this issue very seriously and we know we've got to get something done as quickly as possible," said the US president.

"We are in a serious economic crisis in the country, if we don't pass a piece of legislation," said the president. "I want to thank the spirit of bipartisan cooperation that's taken place here in Washington."

The two candidates, locked in a bitter struggle to succeed Bush in January, sat at opposite ends of the table and said nothing -- Obama sat with his fingers laced, while McCain fiddled with a black pen and his watch band.

"I want to thank the secretary of the Treasury for working hard with the members. Thank the members for working long hours, like they've been doing, to come up with a solution that's bipartisan and that'll solve the problem," he said.

Shortly before the talks, senior US lawmakers announced the outlines of a deal to rescue Wall Street and shore up the fragile economy, but some Republicans dragged their feet.

Apparently undercutting a last-minute intervention by McCain, top members of Congress said a basic agreement was in place on a 700-billion-dollar bailout package.

"We've reached a fundamental agreement on a set of principles," Senator Christopher Dodd told reporters in Congress.