Leading congressional Democrats called Monday for a cautious, deliberative approach to stabilizing troubled financial markets as lawmakers confronted this vexing issue with an election-year recess drawing near.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd voiced confidence in Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, saying that "we've got the right man" to deal with the problem that has roiled not only Wall Street but international markets as well. But his counterpart in the House, Rep. Barney Frank, accused Paulson of pushing Congress to move too hastily.

Dodd, D-Conn., said Monday morning that there will be a division of thought in Congress about how best to proceed on a $700 billion bill the Bush administration is seeking from lawmakers to buy up bad mortgage loans that have been weighing down financial companies since they became engulfed in a severe credit crisis 14 months ago.

Dodd, interviewed on CBS's "The Early Show," said many members of Congress believe a legislative relief package also should be tailored to protect taxpayers in the best way possible.

He said they should be "first in line" to get money back once conditions in the industry stabilize and recover.

Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said, "We want oversight."

He added that "the last thing any of us want is to be back here in a month coming up with some new plan because this didn't work. It's important that we act quickly, but it's more important that we act responsibly."

Dodd spoke a day after the government approved a request by investment houses Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to change their status to bank holding companies.

That change will allow the two venerable institutions to set up commercial banks that will be able to take deposits, significantly bolstering the resources of both institutions. It will also grant them permanent access to emergency loans supplied by the Fed rather than the temporary loan status they have had since last March when the Fed moved to prop up investment banks following the forced sale of Bear Stearns.

Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke kept up their outreach with Congress, holding meetings over the weekend aimed at convincing lawmakers to move quickly to approve the relief package.

Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said that Paulson "is being entirely unreasonable" to expect that Congress will pass a bill right away without examining the proposal thoroughly and adding certain provisions the Democrats want, such as limiting pay for executives of the troubled companies in need of the bailout.

"We want to limit those as a condition for giving them aid," Frank, D-Mass., told ABC's "Good Morning America." ''If Secretary Paulson would agree to that, we could move quickly."

Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., who also serves on the panel, said members "need enough time to debate this" and echoed Frank's concerns about executive pay. "We don't have these great golden parachutes and so on. In the end we're doing it for the taxpayers."

Frank said that lawmakers "are building strong oversight" into the measure, including establishing an oversight board that will report to Congress at least monthly.

"The private sector got us into this mess," Frank said, "The government has to get us out of it. We do want to do it carefully."

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, speaking Monday morning on NBC's "Today" show, said, "We are in the most serious crisis since World War II."

He also said that despite the ballooning national debt, he would not raise taxes if elected.

Congressional leaders have endorsed the main thrust of the administration plan, but also have said that it must be expanded to include help for people on Main Street as well as the big Wall Street financial firms who have lost billions of dollars through their bad investment decisions.

"We will simply not hand over a $700 billion blank check to Wall Street and hope for a better outcome," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday in a statement. "Democrats believe a responsible solution should include independent oversight, protections for homeowners