On another day where Bush Administration officials got an earful about the $700 billion Wall Street mortgage bailout plan, the White House decided to have President Bush address the nation at 9 pm EDT to urge support for the bill.

The decision was announced by the White House around 1pm and related to reporters in an afternoon White House Pool Report.

"Reason for timing is Congress is closer to a solution, and he (Bush) feels he should speak directly to the American people and Congress," said the report from a conversation with Press Secretary Dana Perino.

"Everyone will tune in tonight because we are facing a once in a century crisis in our financial markets," Perino said.

The announcement of the speech came as reports circulated that the White House has given in on the issue of limits on CEO pay and benefits for those companies that take the bailout.

That had been initially opposed by the White House.

One interesting note - as the White House prepped tonight's speech, one report on the bailout had this to say:

"Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke are gaining ground in their bid for a $700 billion plan to rescue the nation's financial system," said an afternoon report by CQ Politics.

In other words, yeah there's a lot of what the late Sen. Jesse Helms might have labeled "muleing, kicking and crying," going on.

But the White House should have the votes in coming days after making some changes in the bailout bill.