By DEB RIECHMANN

Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Trying to rally support, President Bush plans to explain his administration's economic bailout proposal to world leaders while Democrats in Congress push their own version of the massive rescue plan.

The president on Monday headed to New York for his final U.N. General Assembly gathering, a session overshadowed by a U.S. financial meltdown that has touched off worries across the globe. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush will make the case that he has taken "aggressive, decisive action."

With financial markets squeezed by tight credit, Bush's government wants lawmakers to move quickly on a $700 billion package. It would allow the government to buy up a mountain of bad mortgage loans that have been weighing down financial companies.

At the United Nations, Bush will explain that such a hefty government intervention is not his "first instinct," Perino told reporters traveling with the president.

"He would not have wanted to take this action to help these companies if he wasn't convinced by the considered judgment of his senior economic team that it was critical in order to protect the American taxpayers and the American economy as a whole," Perino said in previewing Bush's message to world peers.

Perino said the world community is showing support. Earlier, the Group of Seven, an organization of the world's leading economic powers, pledged Monday to do all it could to help ease the crisis. The group said in a conference call that it welcomed the extraordinary steps the United States has taken so far.

Yet on Capitol Hill, Democratic lawmakers are demanding revisions to Bush's plan, targeting accountability and executive pay.

Judges could rewrite mortgages to lower bankrupt homeowners' monthly payments as part of the congressional Democrats' proposal, according to a draft of the plan obtained Monday by The Associated Press. Under the Democrats' plan, companies that unloaded their bad assets on the government in the massive rescue would have to limit their executives' pay packages and agree to revoke any bonuses awarded based on bogus claims.

Perino would not discuss the White House's stance on some of the items that lawmakers want. She sounded an upbeat tone, saying the administration has received some good responses so far. "Everyone understands the gravity of the situation," she said.

Ahead of his trip, Bush said differences over details were understandable, but he warned lawmakers not to bog down the economic plan.

"Americans are watching to see if Democrats and Republicans, the Congress and the White House, can come together to solve this problem with the urgency it warrants," Bush said. "Indeed, the whole world is watching to see if we can act quickly."

En route to the U.N., Bush stopped in New Jersey to raise money for two Republican congressional candidates.