U.S. reaches bailout deal in bid to stem crisis

After more than a week of wrangling that has involved presidential election candidates Barack Obama and John McCain and seen Washington replace New York as the financial capital of the world, congressional leaders were hoping to sign off on the agreement before Asian markets opened this morning.

"I think we're there," an exhausted US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said after talks broke up just after midnight on Saturday (2pm AEST yesterday).

"We have made great progress toward a deal, which will work and be effective in the marketplace and, you know, effective for all Americans."

"We've made great progress toward a deal which will work and be effective in the marketplace," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, flanked by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, told reporters at 12:30 a.m. Sunday--after nine hours of negotiations that included numerous phone calls with the White House and the input of several top economic minds, including billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

"We've still got more to do to finalize it, but I think we're there," Paulson added. "So far, so good."

The "agreement in principle," as Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., described it, is a $700 billion plan that will allow the Treasury Department to buy troubled mortgage-backed securities from firms that are having difficulty selling these assets in the marketplace.

Meantime, few details were few coming out of the room. ABC News' Jake Tapper reported that the blackberries of staffers were seized and put in a trashcan to cut down on leaks.