Kill the bailout: The “fast track” devil in the details
I’ve just given the draft bailout bill a first read (link here; there’s apparently a more recent draft posted at the House Financial Services cmte website, but it’s currently inaccessible).
There’s a lot of b.s. stuffed in it (more to come), but let’s start with one section that warrants your attention– Section 115 (c). It appears that Hank Paulson and the cackling Democrats have written in a provision that codifies the short-circuiting of the democratic process:
(c) FAST TRACK CONSIDERATION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the Secretary may not exercise any authority to make purchases under this Act with regard to any amount in excess of $350,000,000,000 previously obligated, as described in this section if, within 10 calendar days after the date on which Congress receives a report of the Secretary described in subsection (a)(3), Congress enacts a joint resolution disapproving the plan of the Secretary with respect to such additional amount.
Several readers translate this the same way I do: As long as Congress doesn’t specifically schedule and hold a vote in 10 days after the first $350 billion tranche, the next bailout wave automatically kicks in.
So much for “accountability.”
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Read a little more and you’ll find a limitation on the number of hours our representatives are allowed to debate the next bailout resolutions, as well as restrictions on adding amendments and filing motions to postpone:
…(3) REFERRAL TO COMMITTEE.—A resolution described in paragraph (2) introduced in the House of Representatives shall be referred to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives. A resolution described in paragraph (2) introduced in the Senate shall be referred to the Committee on Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate. Such a resolution may not be reported before the 8th day after its introduction.
(4) DISCHARGE OF COMMITTEE.—If the committee to which is referred a resolution described in paragraph (2) has not reported such resolution (or an identical resolution) at the end of 8 calendar days after its introduction, such committee shall be deemed to be discharged from further consideration of such resolution, and such resolution shall be placed on the appropriate calendar of the House involved.
(5) FLOOR CONSIDERATION.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—When the committee to which a resolution described in paragraph (2) is referred has reported, or has been deemed to be discharged (under paragraph (4)) from further consideration of, a resolution described in paragraph (2), it is at any time thereafter in order (even though a previous motion to the same effect has been disagreed to) for any Member of the respective House to move to proceed to the consideration of the resolution, and all points of order against the resolution (and against consideration of the resolution) are waived. The motion is highly privileged in the House of Representatives and is privileged in the Senate and is not debatable. The motion is not subject to amendment, or to a motion to postpone, or to a motion to proceed to the consideration of other business. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in order. If a motion to proceed to the consideration of the resolution is agreed to, the resolution shall remain the unfinished business of the respective House until disposed
of.(B) DEBATE.—Debate on the resolution, and on all debatable motions and appeals in connection therewith, shall be limited to not more than 10 hours, which shall be divided equally between those favoring and those opposing the resolution. A motion further to limit debate is in order and not debatable. An amendment to, or a motion to postpone, or a motion to proceed to the consideration of other business, or a motion to recommit the resolution is not in order. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the resolution is agreed to or disagreed to is not in order.
(C) VOTE ON FINAL PASSAGE.—Immediately following the conclusion of the debate on a resolution described in paragraph (2), and a single quorum call at the conclusion of the debate if requested in accordance with the rules of the appropriate House.
But now we should just all shut up. Because questioning the rush to ram this trillion-dollar-plus “rescue” down our throats is, you know, “unpatriotic.”
***
Update 5:40pm Eastern. Gag. Unscrupulous borrower Chris Dodd is heaping praise on Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi is pushing her “Blame Bush” agenda. Reid says Wednesday is the target day.
The Dems keep repeating their “taxpayer protection” and “accountability” talking points.
Which reminds me of Section 101 of the draft bill titled “PREVENTING UNJUST ENRICHMENT:”
PREVENTING UNJUST ENRICHMENT.—In making purchases under the authority of this Act, the Secretary shall take such steps as may be necessary to prevent unjust enrichment of financial institutions participating in a program established under this section, including by preventing the resale of a troubled asset to the Secretary at a higher price than what the seller paid to purchase the asset. This subsection does not apply to troubled assets acquired in a merger or acquisition, or a purchase of assets from a financial institution in conservatorship or receivership, or that has initiated bankruptcy proceedings under title 11, United States Code.
Does not apply, in other words, to Fannie/Freddie, JP Morgan Chase/Bear Stearns, WaMu, and Lehman.
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Wow. San Frans Nan makes me sick. I’m still reading through the bill.
Thanks for the first read perspective MM!!
/s/
jose
The 4 stooges are on stage now patting themselves on the back and blaming the administration for this mess. God help us all.
anti-American, that’s what Democrats are.
Can the bill be read online?
MM, great perspective. I am trying to read through this lawyer speak and I agree with you. Right now the democrats responsible are on TV blaming this on Bush and the last 8 years. I do hope the republicans hold a presser and rip into these liars! I get so riled to hear these people spout such nonsense. Dodd, Frank, Reid and Princess Pelosi should be hogtied and whipped for this debacle. MM keep up the great work and I can’t wait to see Pence on camera, I hope he speaks for the folks that are so outraged by this piece of dung legislation!
Now I’m getting the sick feeling in my stomach… This bill will be historic, after passage, the end of our Republic is in full view.
This thing is a bag of poop, put on a porch and lit on fire – and the Congresscritters rang the doorbell and are about to run away.
Okay, I got to this part and just choked… I’ll have to read the rest after this part settles in………
$350,000,000,000
MM has a link to a draft of the bill. It’s posted on her lead story for today. It’s a very slow read for me. I’ll be finished by Thursday!!!!
After all of this is over, the feds will hold the mortgages, ie, properties. this the beginning of the federal take over of real estate.
And you know, putting your foot through the plasma TV just doesn’t have the same sense of satisfaction that the old CRT’s did.
Let’s hope one of the House Republicans call Pelosi and Dingy Harry’s bluff and speaks the truth. It was the Democrats that caused this entire mess to begin with. Now that this bill limits “Golden Parachutes” does this mean that Raines, Johnson and Gorelick have to give us Our money back!?
This video (if you haven’t seen it) needs to be spread everywhere – why oh why won’t fox show a few choice snippets?
Barney Frank and friends saying it’s all okay in 2004…
How do these people live with themselves. Bail out=sell out. Thanks Dems!
Did you see Pelousy and Reid making their talking points? It was obvious that They are Scared To Death, and now we know why thanks to Michelle.
I’m eagerly awaiting word from the Republicans. Hopefully they aren’t any too happy either.
)
After watching the Pelosi/Reid “status update” on the bailout, I have to vent. First, nobody is going to stop some form of bailout from happening. Conservatives (of which I am one) have to accept that! As it stands now, every time we get a “status update”, half of it is spent bashing the Bush/Republican policies and the other half is how the Dems are saving the world for the middle class as we know it. They keep re-hashing the debunked “Presidential Politics” line. The Republican response: nothing! No mention of the Democratic Community Reinvestment Act which led to the crisis. No mention of the Bush and McCain efforts to rein in Freddie and Fannie. No mention of McCain’s efforts to bring the House Repubs together. Meanwhile, McCain is slipping badly in the polls. WHEN ARE REPUBLICANS GOING TO START FIGHTING BACK?!
Unclemonkey – Thank you for the link! I have been wondering when the Rs and conservatives are going to bring these facts to light. I am so sick of Dems rewriting history!
I’m going to email that link to everyone I know.
San Fran Nan and Crazy Harry are absolutely shameful. If the problem is as dire as they claim why do they take every opportunity to get in a political dig. We need to get rid of these idiots.
i hope that the house republicans stage another revolt; and, that we finally have this stopped. i am ready to fax, call and do whatever is necessary to stop this. the stuff that is going through my mind, isn’t legal, however so i have to calm down before i lose control. we need to let boehner, pence and any of those in the house that will still listen, we do not like this bill at all. we do not want it passed period. we especially do not want paulson have this power. we want the culprits barney frank and chris dodd hung out to dry.
what can we do to stop this? if all of the republicans refuse to vote on it and vote nay, will pelosi still try to push it through? she wasn’t going to last week unless they were on board, cause of democrats do not want to be blamed for this mess. plesae tell me we are able to stop this!
When a contractor makes a bid for a job at 200$ and then you say look at it again because it looks high to me and then they come in with half,,something stinks.
If I remember correctly the Dems lost their heads when the Repubs would not agree to it. they were FURIOUS!!! But now they say they were against it and need to protect the people ETC ETC..
And if a contractor lost all his money because of mismanagement, I would be FIRED if I gave them money to do it all over again. Kinda like the first try was just pratice run. What a Crock, and to get screwed on the Lords day is just insult to injury.
Kerry on fox is making me ILL, was gonna have some good food tonight, but I don’t feel like eating now.
SKG
I’ve watched the Republicans allow the Dems to rewrite history for years and say nothing. Why they don’t defend themselves publically, I’ll never figure out.
It’s time to stop allowing the Democrats to rewrite history!
I don’t think we can stop it at this point. Both Candidates and Parties are on record with this as the “greatest crisis since the great depression”. The American people, in general, do not like the bail out plan but also know something must be done. The Dems are the only ones talking. If the Repubs reject it – the Dems will claim we are risking the economy for political partisanship. Then they will pass it on their own (which they can do) in the interest of “saving” the middle class. The negative implications of the bill will not be evident until after the election. The Repubs have been too silent and too soft on this issue for too long. The Dems now own it. Again, it may hurt them in the long run, but not until after the election. As it stands today, Repubs are on the defensive and were are looking at an escalating likelyhood of an Obama presidency. The Republicans need to go on the offensive NOW.
On September 28th, 2008 at 6:34 pm, Joy said:
Most Republicans are like Bokonon from Cat’s Cradle. They are there merely to serve as strawmen for the Democrats.
Most Republicans do not believe in conservatism. They believe in non-corrupt, “clean” collectivism. Not that there has EVER been a “clean” collectivist State.
When a State enslaves its people, its politicians are slavemasters. Slavemasters are inherently corrupt and hold their slaves in utter contempt.
That is why it seems as if Republicans hold us in contempt. They do.
Dum inter homines sumus, colamus humanitatem!
I quit reading after page 50.
Amazing how they argued and wrote all those pages on a few days.
We have been setup and HAD.
in a few days……. oops.
On September 28th, 2008 at 6:41 pm, gayle said:
This document of doom was worked out far ahead of time, of that I have no doubt.
George Soros probably got Obama, John, and Hillary into a room together…
Quam terribilis est haec hora!
My blood boils every time I hear Barney Frank blame this mess on the Republicans’ deregulation. Load of horse hooey – HE and the Dems didn’t want the regulation and said nothing was wrong with Fannie & Freddie.
And they had the nerve to praise Rangel for his help on the bill – he doesn’t pay taxes – he won’t suffer.
We need a truth squad to counter their lies and corruption. Will someone stand up and shout the truth in Frank and Dodd’s hearings coming up????!!!!!
When this trillion dollar plan is passed,I can almost picture a cartoon of Nazi Pelosi,Harry Reid,Chris Dodd,& Barney Frank pouring the bailout slop buckets into a long trough with all the pigs(i.e..ACORN,La Raza,et al) rushing in chaotically to feed from it!!!
So, whoever the Majority Leader is, can decide on their own, that they will not allow such a resolution to reach the floor?
Like I said previously, this proposal gives more power to the majority party. Infuriating!!!
The Dem’s always mean the opposite of what they say…consistency in thought and actions. The gall!!!
Anyone else thinking it’s time for a Orange Pekoe Gala?
Blah, blah, blah, blah…
Who are we kidding?
Nothing is going to change; it is just going to get worse.
Obama is going to win, and McAmnesty would just let the Mexicans in to continue the destruction.
Morons… Good Americans are all morons, we outnumber the loser gang members and the illegals, we could destroy them but we just focus on the stupid: Lindsey Lohan, Madonna, Football, “Go Chargers, the Raiders suck“… we Americans are all morons.
My goal is to find a place away from the blacks and mexicans and just live in peace…maybe get a fifth wheel trailer and spend retirement camping far away from the losers…
I just hope things hang in there long enough for me and my beautiful Asian wife and child to have a little peace…
This guy is a financial writer and really tells it like it is.
Yes, even Republicans get a crack.
Read this article
I wish that I had this type of accountability for my job as a USAF Budget Analyst. A peon like me gets to sweat out the Anti-Deficiency Act if I spend one penny more than allocated by Congress as part of my annual operating budget see who ends up in a Federal Prison. Paulson gets to play with billions of dollars with no accountability and damn little oversight from what I have read so far. I trust the Democrats in Congress along with Paulson about as much as I trust the incompetent bureaucrats that work for Defense Finance Accounting Service that have already had my program in the hole for $20K so far during this close-out period. Makes me realize why I finally got fed up and retired after 25 years on active duty. Oh to win my way out of debt using the redneck retirement plan (lotto) so I can finally quit working for this bloated irresponsible government.
NO NO NO to this bailout bill. ABSOLUTELY NOT! We will suffer longer with this bill than we would without it!
After this bill gets signed, expect inflation to run rampant. The dollar will fall through the floor (after it had been running up pretty well), and the price of oil will skyrocket back to 150/barrel. The global economy and our economy can NOT survive with 150 barrel oil. So if we do this bill, our economy will embark on a long and slow downward bear drift.
If we don’t bail out the banks, then banks fail, market falls 30%, housing prices fall to where people can afford them. . .and we begin to rebuild on a system that has been purged of bad debt.
Did ya’ll hear Louise Slaughter (Rules Committee)they are passing a Rules HR tonight to allow ALL bills to be passed with only a 1/2 majority vote. Since this Rules Committee “rule” doesn’t need 2/3 to pass( only money bills do) they have changed the rules for 2 days only. ANY MONEY BILL can be passed tonight and tomorrow with 1/2 of the house voting.
AND…they are voting on energy…TONIGHT.
Bailout tomorrow.
Wow…. the rest of the world (including Ahmadinejad and Chavez) was right about us. We were just sold out by our own government.
I hope all of those that think the bailout is the right thing to do, get whats coming to them in the next few months/years.
I have already told my kids “sorry” for whats going to happen to them and their kids in the future.
The Democratic party will not be happy till they are the only party which they can then call the Communist Party.