WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Congressional leaders say they are near an agreement on a $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street, but many Republican members of Congress are still balking at the deal.
"It will not solve problems, it will create more problems, we're rushing to judgment, that we do have stress in our market, but this is not the best way, we ought to look at alternatives," Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, said after emerging from a meeting at the White House with President Bush, congressional leaders and the presidential candidates.
Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said he did not believe an agreement had been reached, noting a group of leading economists have called the bailout a bad plan.
If Republican opposition to the plan persists it could prove to be a major stumbling block to final passage of the bailout package, which congressional leaders and the White House say must pass by the end of the weekend.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic congressional leaders have said the package is President Bush's bill, and they do not want Democrats to be blamed if the program does not work.
But one Republican aide said, "I think it has to be pretty radically altered for House Republicans to support it."
"At the end of the day these members represent the people who sent them here and the people who sent them here are so overwhelming opposed to this," the aide stressed, who noted that calls about the plan were running about 90-1 against the plan.
After the agreement on principles was announced, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the top Republican in the House, said in a statement he was "encouraged by the bipartisan progress made toward an economic package that protects the interests of families, seniors, small businesses and all taxpayers.
"However, House Republicans have not agreed to any plan at this point. We owe it to all those with a stake in this process to continue our discussions until we arrive at an agreement that is acceptable on both sides of the aisle -- and more importantly, one that serves the interests of American taxpayers," he said.
And one Senate Republican said he, too, was not ready to vote for the proposal.
"I'm not on board yet. I want to see this thing," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, said. "What I don't like about this -- and I'm very, very worried about it -- I think this is probably the greatest concession of legislative power in the history of the republic, almost."
A House Republican, though, said the dangers facing the economy would force him to vote for the bailout.
"I know this: I will be a vote for a package, even if I don't love it, even if I don't like it a lot," Rep. Chris Shays, R-Connecticut, said.
Shays said the positions the two presidential candidates -- Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain -- take on the bailout could influence the final vote on the bill.
"If both candidates say, 'you know, one of us is going to be president of the United States. This is the best or only thing we can do for the moment, but we've got some heavy lifting for the future,' I think that would seal it," Shays said.
Despite reservations from some lawmakers, one of the Republican negotiators, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson "will have the money he needs on Monday because we're going to pass something that works by Monday."
CNN's Lisa Desjardins and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this story.
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