The Troubled Assets Relief Program, the linchpin of Congress's giveaway, is an opening into a very dark place. It seems this plan will do much of what the original "Paulson Plan" set out to do.
Bush will have his $700 Billion. And without any regulation. Congress has the potential to deny the President $350 bln of the $700 bln; however, this ability to obstruct is not power. 41 Senators can filibuster any denial of those $350 Billion dollars. All Bush needs to do is request the money and if the House and the Senate can't both deny Bush's request, then he will have all the money.
If the plan fails, there is no guarantee taxpayers will be paid back. The only requirement is that in 2013 the President submit a plan to Congress to recoup any projected losses to taxpayers. This language allows for any recovery effort to fail. I hope this won't be necessary.
Authorizes the full $700 billion as requested by the Treasury Secretary for implementation of TARP. Allows the Secretary to immediately use up to $250 billion... Secretary may access an additional $100 billion. The final $350 billion may be accessed if the President transmits a written report to Congress... The Secretary may use this additional authority unless within 15 days Congress passes a joint resolution of disapproval...
http://financialservices.house.gov/...
http://financialservices.house.gov/...
In my opinion, Congress is kicking the ball to somebody else. They don't want to deal with the issue, because they don't know what the impact of this bailout will be. Politicians fear the unknown more than anything. By matching Bush's 700 number, they show they 'care', that they put up the money to stop impending doom.
But what is to stop the coming stampede of banks selling their junk to the Treasury? How long should it be before these trash assets blossom into gold?
So, yet again, Congress is trying to expand the power of the Executive Branch. The creation of a "Financial Stability Oversight Board" puts the President's cabinet in the policy drivers seat.
Under this bill, the Secretary of the Treasury is in charge of making plans to 'mitigate' foreclosures, and 'encouraging' banks to modify loans. How far will he be required to go in pursuing this goal? What result is Congress demanding on this front? What guidelines MUST the Secretary follow to achieve these nice goals?
I'm sorry to say these are not proposals and rules I can just go to sleep with.
Why are they voting on this at 8 o clock Monday morning?!
The American people deserve a chance to take a good hard look at this and debate the merits, rather than having this thing thrust upon us when we're drowsy. Are we really Congress' still-drunk bar date?
It seems every solid provision for oversight of this program comes in the form of a report, or a committee controlled by the President.
It seems that any Congressional oversight can be stopped by filibuster in the U.S. Senate.
I am no expert, so when the experts get done reading that beast, the loopholes will open up, golden parachutes will be saved and Bush will have the last laugh at the folks who brought us the bankruptcy bill, and retroactive immunity for phone-tapping.