Help Is Here: Most agree unpopular bill necessary to save economy
By JOSELYN KING With AP DispatchesWASHINGTON - With the economy on the brink and elections looming, Congress approved an unprecedented $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry on Friday and sent it to President Bush who quickly signed it.
"We have acted boldly to help prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country,'' Bush said shortly after the vote. He conceded, ''Our economy continues to face serious challenges.''
Underscoring that somber warning, the Dow Jones industrials, up more than 200 points at the time of the House vote, had fallen into negative territory an hour later. They fluctuated as the afternoon wore on.
The final vote, 263-171 in the House, capped two weeks of tumult in Congress and on Wall Street, punctuated by daily warnings that the country confronted the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression if lawmakers failed to act. There were 58 more votes for the measure than an earlier version that failed Monday.
Local members of Congress voted Friday the same way - along party lines - that they did on the first economic stabilization act that came before them.
U.S. Rep. Zack Space and U.S. Rep. Charles Wilson, both D-Ohio, along with U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., voted in favor of the package.
U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., cast a "no" vote.
"While we've seen some key adjustments around the edges, this is fundamentally the same bill we considered on Monday," said Capito. "We're still talking about $700 billion, and we're still talking about a process that lacks sufficient oversight and taxpayer protections for West Virginia families who pay their bills and play by the rules. It's not even clear why $700 billion was the chosen number.
"Clearly we're all concerned about ensuring the flow of credit, shoring up small businesses, preserving West Virginia jobs and protecting retirement accounts, but there were other options available that weren't even allowed to be considered. Instead of a serious look at how to reduce the cost to the taxpayer, we saw the add-on of various provisions designed to convince us to switch our votes that has actually made this bill $110 billion more expensive. That's not how we should be addressing this problem, and that's not how West Virginians want to see us address this issue."
While 108 House Republicans voted against the package, 91 did cast ballots in favor, Space noted. He said this indicates bipartisan support for the bill
But Space said he was by no means happy that Congress was faced with considering such legislation.
"I don't like that we had this bill, but I dislike the alternatives ... ," he commented.
Space, though, said he based his decision to approve the bill on the long lines he has seen at food pantries and soup kitchens in East Ohio. Many of those people, he noted, go to work each day but still live in poverty.
"Today I voted to protect the taxpayers of Ohio from economic collapse," Space said. "Without this rescue package, we could have seen an economic disaster on the scale of the Great Depression.
"I knew if we didn't do something, the effects could very well be devastating," he continued. "Many areas of the 18th District have10 percent unemployment and a 20 percent poverty level. These people can't afford a credit squeeze, or to see their pensions eliminated."
Space said what bothered him most about the bill was the number of tax extenders for numerous domestic products that were added on to the legislation. These, he said, should have been part of a separate bill.
Wilson noted that the legislation passed Friday included renewable American energy tax incentives for 20 million families who could be hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax, extensions of expiring business and family tax cuts, disaster relief, mental health parity to end coverage discrimination and other provisions.
"There has been a lot of talk about the $150 billion of spending the Senate added to the bill," Wilson said.
"These are not earmarks headed to specific districts at the request of a specific senator or member of Congress. The bulk of the additional spending is AMT relief for the middle class and extending tax incentives that would have expired for alternative energy, including tax credits for the construction of clean coal facilities."
But Wilson said he wished the Senate version of the tax extenders in the bill "had been paid for," noting that when the House passed a similar package of tax extenders earlier this summer it provided for the funds within the legislation.
"However, it was important to pass this bill today to protect the economy and protect Main Street," he said.
"First and foremost, we protected the taxpayers. We are facing an economic downturn as serious as any that has faced this nation. An incredible 159,000 workers lost their jobs last month, small businesses aren't getting the short-term loans they need to operate in a normal way and even in California, the state says it might have to stop paying its teachers soon if something isn't done. I know it's a lot of money, but the cost of inaction would have been much worse."
Mollohan voted in favor of the earlier legislation, noting that "it is necessary to keep a credit crisis that is already making it harder to buy a home, get a loan to start a small business, or even finance a student's college education, from creating much more serious economic problems in communities all across America."
David Herring, Mollohan's spokesman, said Mollohan had no additional comments Friday.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pledged to begin using his new authority quickly, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank would work closely with the administration.
Wall Street welcomed the action, but investors also were buffeted by a bad report on the job market.
At its core, the bill gives the Treasury Department $700 billion to purchase bad mortgage-related securities that are weighing down the balance sheets of institutions that hold them.
The flow of credit in the U.S. economy has slowed, in some cases drying up, threatening the ability of businesses to conduct routine operations or expand and adversely affecting consumers seeking financing for mortgages, cars and student loans. Some state governments have also experienced difficulty borrowing money.
A total of 33 Democrats and 25 Republicans switched from opposition to support. Several of the Democrats were members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who said presidential candidate Barack Obama had pledged to support legislation easing the burden on consumers if he wins the White House.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain also lobbied for the measure, according to aides who declined to release a list of lawmakers he called.
Following Monday's vote, Senate leaders quickly took custody of the measure, adding on $110 billion in tax and spending provisions designed to attract additional support, then grafting on legislation mandating broader mental health coverage in the insurance industry.
The revised measure won Senate approval Wednesday night, 74-25.
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wonderwhy
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10-07-08 12:46 PM
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Former U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini told PolitickerAZ**** Monday that he thinks Sen. John McCain's involvement in the Keating Five scandal of the late '80s and early '90s is fair game as an issue in the presidential contest between the senator from Arizona and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). ... DeConcini, who said he hadn't seen the full video, said, "The question that should be raised is that McCain's big issue here is that he shouldn't have been at that meeting with the regulators that first time because he had a conflict. He took these three trips that he didn't report and his wife invested $350,000 with Keating," DeConcini said. "You can criticize rest of us," he said, "but none of us had traveled with or invested with [Keating]." thought you might like to see what one of the other 5 have to say
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EllisWyatt
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10-04-08 9:49 PM
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I want Hank Paulson to give us details of how each dollar of the $700 billion will be spent. Can anyone walk into a bank and say "I want $700,000 and I have no collateral, no way to repay you and, by the way, I won't tell you what I'll do with the money"? NO!!!!! Where is the accountability? How did they arrive at this $700 billion? As with all bills, this is loaded with pork (see Homeland Defense, paying for new SUV's, fire trucks, free housing, etc.) We need to call and write Congress and tell them that anyone who voted yes on this bill will be voted out! Kudos to Shelly Moore Capito for voting NO. Let's stop the partisan finger pointing. The future of this nation is at stake! The politicians play divide and conqueor. They figure if we fight each other over minor issues, we won't fight them on the big issues. They are wrong this time. It is time to rise up and vote the bums out! McCain and Obama should both resign from the Senate. Neither are equipped to lead.
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youngbloodWheelingroots
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10-04-08 6:52 PM
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If there's anything that makes this disgusting bill more acceptable to politicians, it's PORK. Americans have been screwed twice in the same bill - corporates and politicians, equally corrupt and profiteering.
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Thoughtful
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10-04-08 6:00 PM
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The bill should have been pared down to address the issue and not loaded with trinkets and treasure. It was a bill that should have been supported by all at that point. Our credit markets and economy requaired this bill. I do challenge Charlie Wilson to revolt from the Democrat leadership of Pelosi, Reid, Frank, and Dodd. They stand for the absolute destruction of the core needs of the Ohio Valley. We must demand that he separate from those types. We need to watch his votes very carfully and hold him accountable.
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beach1
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10-04-08 5:41 PM
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WILSON AND ALL THE OTHER DEMS VOTED FOR THIS,WILSON EVEN HAD A LOCAL BUSINESS MAN GIVE OUT MISINFORMATION TO JUSTIFY HIS VOTE,HE SHOULD GET YOUR (NO VOTE) STAB
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atoddh
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10-04-08 5:24 PM
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Ellis: They have worse than no collateral;they have bad collateral.Note that a couple of the perps have now been hired by the Fed, for huge fees, to "administer" the mess thay caused.That is, hand out the 700 billion to themselves and associates and be paid to do it. There will be little or no additional credit for the average citizen.Consumption will fall and the recession will continue on the same as it did without the bailout.The banks,however, will be in good shape having removed their bad loans.The public has been taken as they were with the War.
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SphinxRising58
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10-04-08 4:08 PM
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What amazed me was that any type of retirement packages for CEOs were even included in this fiasco they call a bailout, as it it really aimed at helping the banking system out of a bad spot it put itself into, or is it aimed at making the rich richer ? It must be nice to have a job where you can run a business into the ground & still be able to walk away with a multi-million dollar retirement package complete with all the perks in some cases that include customized luxury penthouses, stocks & bonds, all paid for by the shareholders & tax payers in this case.
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NancySI
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10-04-08 10:13 AM
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Fixing the unfair AMT tax, sounds like a good thing out of this. As much as the necessity for this bill really stinks, it looks like there has been alot of self-serving banking people who got rich while they risked the economy of the country doing it. And they remain nameless faces out there, enjoying their wealth. While it is easy to blame 6 years of a repub Congress and 1 year of a Dem Congress, there certainly have been many enablers on the path, who wore blinders as long as they got rich on the taxpayers contributions to their gravy train.
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whisperinghope
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10-04-08 10:10 AM
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sorry messed
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whisperinghope
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10-04-08 10:10 AM
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Nothing is going to change, and you're blind if you think it will with this bailout. Look at in simple terms. You give me money, I lend it out, I don't get it back, you call it in, I don't have it. Our government doesn't have it, we are in debt to China, Saudi Arabia, and now let's give money back to those who mest up everything in the first place!!! All the while the big fat cats getting the 6 figure salary gets what a slap on the hand!!! Send them to jail like Martha. This entire bailout is going to kick us in the butt in the end, lol believe it or not.
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EllisWyatt
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10-04-08 9:22 AM
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Experts believe that forest fires, while potentially dangerous, also have positive benefits. It clears out the dead wood and makes the soil richer for growth. Our economy could use a forest fire, not more dead wood. Eventually, the fire will be so overwhelming, we won't be able to put it out. I am speaking in metaphors. I normally don't but I just thought that the forest fire example is something that most people can understand and identify with. These politicians have mortgaged our future. Why $700 billion? Do you think you can just walk into a bank and say "give me a loan for $700,000" with no collateral and no explanation as to what you are going to do with it and how you will pay it back? NO. So why should we give our tax dollars to people who have no collateral, no explanation, and no way to pay it back?
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atoddh
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10-04-08 6:55 AM
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The financial lobby has won;the public has lost. A large piece of the 700 billion will go for campaigns.
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EbZane
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10-04-08 6:39 AM
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The President, Senate and House have shown by voting yea on the bailout, that they are unethical, immoral and spineless. Not only was this bailout the largest corporate welfare check ever cut, it became earmarked with additional pork that is unexcusable. What type of precident did this set? I am thinking of defaulting on my debt in hopes of a bailout. Then, I can teach my children how to succeed in this pathetic game. Shameless. Our founding fathers would revolt to these actions.
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SphinxRising58
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10-04-08 2:14 AM
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Who is this " most " the story speaks of, as it was not the tax payers for sure ? Can you say no re-election for representatives who voted against the wishes of tax payers in this fiasco ? SNAFU.
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