Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/lawmakers-pose-tough-questions-on-bailout-proposal Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson faced tough questions from skeptical members of Congress Tuesday over a $700 billion financial bailout plan. Kwame Holman reports on the hearings and other developments in the financial crisis. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. GWEN IFILL: The rescue plan for the financial system encounters headwinds on Capitol Hill. Congressional correspondent Kwame Holman has our report.SEN. CHRIS DODD (D), Connecticut: The committee gathers this morning at an extraordinary and perilous moment in our nation's history. KWAME HOLMAN: As the nation's top economic officials gathered to testify, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd's tone reflected movement away from a broad bipartisan consensus expressed just last weekend.A growing number of Democrats joined conservative Republicans in criticizing the Bush administration's $700 billion plan to bail out financial and other firms. SEN. CHRIS DODD: I understand speed is important, but I'm far more interested in whether or not we get this right. There is no second act to this. There is no alternative idea out there with the resources available if this does not work. So it's critically important that we get it right.SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), Alabama: What troubles me most is that we have been given no credible assurances that this plan will work. We could very well spend $700 billion or $1 trillion and not resolve the crisis.Before I sign off on something of this magnitude, I would want to know that we have exhausted all reasonable alternatives.