House GOP rebukes Bush on bailout plan

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- A U.S. House Republican move to scuttle a $700 billion financial bailout bill is the culmination of frustrations with the White House, observers say.

Since being voted out of the majority in the House two years ago, GOP leaders have clashed with U.S. President George Bush on measures they see as increasing the role of government in the private sector. The bailout bill promoted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was the last straw, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The GOP revolt against a preliminary deal to have the government purchase billions of dollars in "toxic" mortgage securities from U.S. banks came after initial indications they would support the plan. But House conservatives, led by Reps. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Eric Cantor of Virginia and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, rallied support for an alternative plan that included no government purchases but instead only insurance and tax cuts.

In the wake of their 2006 electoral defeats, House Republicans have been attempting reassert themselves as a party of fiscal restraint, analysts told the newspaper. But after acceding to the White House on several initiatives despite deep misgivings, they moved against Bush's bailout plan.