Alexander Calls On Congress To "Clear Up Massive Wreck On Nation’s Economic Highway"
posted September 30, 2008
) Photo by Wes Schultz Rep. Zach Wamp |
Rep. Wamp, in several Chattanooga appearances, said the approach to the fiscal crisis taken by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson "in some ways made the crisis worse."
He said Congress was given "a three-page sheet and told, 'We need it now.'"
Rep. Wamp was among House members voting against the Bush administration-backed $700 billion bailout bill on Monday. Then House and Senate members went home.
He said he has been in close contact with Sen. Bob Corker, including a noon call on Tuesday, and he expects the Senate to vote on an altered bill on Wednesday night.
Rep. Wamp said he has a list of 10 items he wants to see included that he said will bring real market reform and try to prevent recent mortgage excesses.
He said one step that may be taken also is raising the FDIC backing level on loans from $100,000 to $250,000.
Rep. Wamp also said there may be a six-month suspension of the "mark to market" value assignment on security portfolios.
Sen. Lamar Alexander on Tuesday made the following remarks on the floor of the Senate regarding legislation "to address the credit crunch affecting communities across America":
“I hope we don’t have to wait for dozens and dozens of banks to fail, for payroll checks to bounce, and for auto loans to dry up before the Congress decides we need to act. What we’re trying to do is to prevent a more serious problem by taking a measured response which will cost the taxpayers the least amount of money and clear up the economic traffic so it can start moving again.
“Some things, we take for granted: that the sun comes up, that our breathing will be automatic, and that we’ll be able to get an auto loan, or a student loan, or a mortgage loan, or a farm credit loan. Or that when we take our paycheck in and give it to the bank, that represents money. But what if that didn’t happen?
“We end up with this massive wreck in the middle of the economic highway, and all of the vehicles carrying our auto loans, our student loans, our paychecks are stopped while we in Congress stand around looking at the wreck instead of trying to get somebody to get it off the road so the economic traffic can proceed.
“This is a Main Street problem. I think we’re elected to come here and understand the problem and act before there is a crisis, not after there is a crisis.
“We’ve got to give the Secretary of Treasury enough money and enough authority to be able to buy all the junk in the middle of the economic highway and get if off the road and hope he is able to sell it for about what he paid for it, or at least to minimize our losses. That’s why it’s wrong to call it a ‘$700 billion bailout,’ because he may need up to that amount to buy all this stuff in the middle of the highway. But he may buy much less. Then he’s going to sell these assets. There might even be a profit, which, under the plan, would go to reduce the federal debt.
“We’ve put in the legislation some taxpayer protections to try to make sure that we have clear oversight, that people don’t get golden parachutes as a result of this, that Congress is involved, and that there is a board of directors to whom the Secretary must report. We don’t want to be guilty of having turned our backs and not paying attention to dealing with taxpayers’ money on this.
“I do not want to see a credit freeze come. I want to get the wreck off the highway. I want to get auto loans, farm loans, and money for the payroll checks moving again. Then we can set about making sure we create a proper regulatory system for the kind of world in which we live.
“People don’t like this. They’re angry about it. I’m angry about it too, but I’m not going to just sit there and look at the wreck. I’m going to try to solve the problem. There’s going to be plenty of time to talk about who caused the wreck. Plenty of time to do that, but today we should fix the problem.
“The United States Senate has not finished its work on the economic recovery plan, and we plan to continue our work, to discuss it today and tomorrow, and to complete our work on that by the end of the week. That’s our intention. We believe that will happen. We’re united in that purpose in a bipartisan way.”
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