The intensity with which Secretary Paulson and the Bush administration are pushing the $700 billion (read $1 trillion+) bank bailout bill is stunning. But even more staggering than the reckless speed is the open disdain for the U.S. Constitution.
kos pointed out in a mid-day post that the "'Crisis bill' was months in the making." According to Bush administration spokesman Tony Fratto, the bulk of the Paulson proposal was drafted over a series of months as a "contingency." One of the key contingencies, of course, is the language that makes the actions of the Secretary of the Treasury UNREVIEWABLE by the federal courts.
This sounds familiar: In 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act -- all 342 pages -- was introduced in Congress just 3 weeks after the September 11 attacks and passed just over three weeks later. Few pieces of legislation can compete with the constitutional damage of the PATRIOT Act, but the Paulson bailout proposal gives it a shot.
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