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...proposed $700 billion bailout of the nation's beleaguered financial markets has become a taffy pull between the Bush Administration and lawmakers from both parties. Many on Capitol Hill believe Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is seeking too much unregulated cash and power in his effort to stabilize the economy by buying up toxic mortgage-backed securities. He's also asking Congress to lift the ceiling on the national debt to a record $11.3 trillion from the current $10.6 trillion, which could weaken the U.S. dollar, raise interest rates and act as an additional drag on the economy. All that money...
...drop in housing prices of nearly 20% since mid-2006 and say the government's eventual loss could approach $1 trillion. By seeking $700 billion - roughly akin to the cost of the Iraq war (so far) - the Treasury is taking a middle path. But many on Capitol Hill are pushing a proposal to commit an initial sum of $150 billion to $200 billion before handing over the whole...
...Tuesday's Senate Banking Committee hearing on the bailout may not reassure anyone. Paulson argued that the Bush Administration's plan is "the single most effective thing we can do to help homeowners, the American people, and stimulate our economy." And he stressed that despite fears on Capitol Hill, he does believe there should be some oversight of the unprecedented bailout. But Democrat Chris Dodd of Connecticut declared, "It is not just our economy at risk but our Constitution as well," while ranking minority member Richard Shelby of Alabama, a vocal critic of the plan, said, "I have long opposed...
...Shelby is likely to oppose the plan, but much of its scrutiny on Capitol Hill is, in fact, Congress doing what Congress does, albeit on a massive, once-in-a-lifetime scale. On any given day on the Hill well-heeled lobbyists graft slivers of language onto obscure bills, language that ends up being worth huge amounts to their clients. This week the U.S. financial system is going to be reordered on a scale unseen since F.D.R., and everyone has an interest in that, sometimes to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. In the massive bazaar of legislative...
...sure, there's no shortage of grousing on Capitol Hill on both sides of the aisle. Democrats are happy to paint Republicans and the Bush Administration as disproportionately interested in Wall Street fat cats. But the Dems also know that they can come out on top by passing, with some alterations, a plan that is fundamentally in line with their philosophical approach to government regulation of the market. Republicans, for their part, quietly hate the proposal but can't get in the way of it this close to an election. "They think the market's going to melt down...