God bless Mike Pence, and house Republicans. The vote will be interesting. I wonder if 0bama, the gutless wonder, will vote present, you know, to hedge his bet.
I’m sure Nancy Boyda (D-KS) will vote against this bill since Republicans have agreed to provide her cover. Then she can come home and claim she is a conservative in her tough re-election fight.
No, he'll vote for it because he gave himself an out; ie he might change it if he doesn't like it after he's elected.
POLITICO
Obama would want bailout review if elected
By: Mike Allen
September 28, 2008 09:39 AM EST
Hours after a tentative congressional agreement on a mortgage bailout program, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said Sunday morning that he is likely to support it but might seek changes in the program if he is elected.
“If elected President, I will order a thorough review of this plan to make sure that it fully lives up to the principles I've laid out,” Obama said. “And I will also move quickly to upgrade our financial regulations for the 21st century, establishing new rules of the road and tougher oversight to ensure that the American taxpayers are never again forced to put their money and their futures at risk because of bad decisions in Washington and on Wall Street.”
Suggesting he will support the plan, Obama said: “While I look forward to reviewing the language of the legislation, it appears that the tentative deal embraces [four] principles [he had advocated].”
Obama’s statement began: “The breakthrough between Congress and the Administration is the culmination of a sorry period in our history, in which reckless speculation and greed on Wall Street and lax oversight from Washington led to a meltdown of our financial markets. But regardless of how we got here, a failure to deal with the current crisis would have devastating consequences for our economy, costing millions of Americans their jobs and retirement security.
“To understand how this tentative deal was reached, it's important to remember how this all began. The Bush Administration initially asked for a blank check to respond to this problem, which I strongly opposed. It would have been unconscionable to expect the American people to hand this Administration or any Administration a $700 billion check with no conditions and no oversight when a lack of oversight in Washington and on Wall Street is exactly what got us into this mess. If the American people are being asked to pay for the solution to this crisis, their tax dollars must be protected.
“That is why over the past ten days, in conversations with the President, Secretary of Treasury and leaders of Congress, I laid out the four core principles I believed had to guide any solution: oversight by an independent board; protections for taxpayers to ensure that they are treated like investors and that they receive any profits - and recoup any losses - from this plan; measures to help homeowners stay in their homes; and rules to make sure CEOs are not being rewarded at taxpayers' expense. While I look forward to reviewing the language of the legislation, it appears that the tentative deal embraces these principles.
“When taxpayers are asked to take such an extraordinary step because of the irresponsibility of a relative few, it is not a cause for celebration. But this step is necessary. Now Washington has to show the same sense of urgency in dealing with the crisis facing Main Street and the middle class by passing an emergency economic stimulus plan that would create jobs by rebuilding our crumbing roads; shore up flagging state budgets to prevent drastic cuts in education and health care; and extend expiring unemployment insurance benefits for those who've lost their jobs in this downturn and cannot find new ones.”
Here are some elements of the plan, as provided by House Republicans to highlight changes they had negotiated:
Requires the establishment of an insurance guarantee program that in lieu of purchasing assets with taxpayer funds is available to insure assets at no cost to the taxpayer. Costs would be fully paid for by participating companies (i.e. those receiving the assistance). Assets insured by the program would count against the total funds the Secretary would otherwise have available to make purchases.
If after five years, the government has a net loss as a result of the purchase program, the President is required to submit a proposal to recoup those losses from the entities that benefited from this program.
Establishes a bipartisan Congressional Oversight Panel.
Established a Special Inspector General to monitor the program.
I thought only the House needed to vote. Hasn’t it passed the Senate?