WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2009
Key Lawmaker Eyes Bailout Bill Changes
Rep. Barney Frank Expects Conditions To Be Imposed On Funds To Benefit Struggling Homeowners
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Rep. Barney Frank (www.house.gov)
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Rep. Barney Frank, who heads the House Financial Services Committee, issued an outline of his proposal to attach strings to spending of the money by either the Bush administration or the incoming Obama government. It also slaps strict limits on executive compensation - both for companies receiving new federal money and those that already have - including a ban on any bonuses for the 25 highest paid executives.
The banning of some bonuses, and relinquishing of private jets, would be applied to all banks and other institutions receiving bailout money, as they were in the loan agreements with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC last month.
The new conditions also would include a better method for the government to track whether banks are using the money to boost lending.
"We will trust but verify," Frank told reporters on Capitol Hill.
In addition, the Treasury Department would be required to quickly make funds available for smaller community banks, which Frank says have gotten short shrift under the federal program.
For months, Democrats in Congress have lashed out at the Bush administration's mortgage aid programs, saying the government needs to do more to help tens of thousands of home borrowers avert foreclosure. Rather than just spending more billions to inject capital into banks, they have argued, the federal rescue dollars also should be channeled into programs for modifying mortgages into more affordable loans.
Frank, D-Mass., said Friday that President-elect Barack Obama's team had indicated to him they planned to retain Sheila Bair as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Bair, a Bush appointee, also had criticized as insufficient the administration's mortgage programs. Frank's proposal would expand the role of the FDIC in overseeing the government programs.
Frank said his bill could be voted on by the House as soon as next week.
Acknowledging that the proposal may not clear the hurdle of Senate adoption or be accepted by the Bush White House, Frank said that if it passed the House with a large majority, he'd be willing to accept the word of the Obama team "that they will act as if it were law."
Obama's team is broadening the mission of the $700 billion financial rescue, aiming to unfreeze credit for homeowners, consumers, small businesses and local governments.
The Bush administration hasn't asked for the second $350 billion, which it would legally be unable to spend in the 11 days remaining before leaving office, Frank noted.
In a memo to House members this week, Frank said conditions on the money were needed "because there has been widespread unhappiness with the failure of this administration to use any of the first $350 billion for mitigation of foreclosures and because money given to banks under this program flowed with virtually no strings attached."
Earlier Friday, Elizabeth Warren, the head of a congressional panel overseeing the Treasury's $700 billion bailout program, said lawmakers need to "take a very hard look" at how banks have used the money.
CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports that Warren's panel asked the Treasury Department 45 questions but says Treasury "did not provide complete answers" and "failed to address a number of questions at all."
Therefore, Attkisson reports, more than three months into the bailout, the panel "still does not know what the banks are doing with taxpayer money."Click here to view the Treasury Dept.'s December bailout report.
"I'm shocked that we have to ask these questions," said Warren, who is a Harvard law professor. "But what I will say is that I'm not giving up on this. The best news is that these questions have gotten a lot of attention and a lot of people are demanding answers and when a lot of people demand answers, things start to change."
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 82 CommentsPosted by TexHillGirl at 05:21 PM : Jan 09, 2009
Yea I know all that money the banks have got already had really been available for me to use lol.
"President Elect Obama says we only have one president at a time. I think that overstates the number of presidents we have right now".
That''s not a verified quote, that''s from the top of my head, i didn''t google it, it''s so brilliant i just memorized it! He probably didn''t come up with that zinger himself, but it takes same balls to deliver it at a press confrence. Kudos!
Talking about impeachment: what happens if congress decides on January 20th, 11:30 eastern, to impeach Bush and Cheney? Would that influence the imunity they get after leaving office? And if so, could criminal charges be brought against them, maybe even an extradition to The Hague?
Better be careful what you wish for, Buddy, you and your pals ain''t running the table anymore...
Posted by b4ucmyI at 05:42 PM : Jan 09, 2009
Do we have a problem with accepting other peoples freedoms and orientation (if it is even true)? Do we have a problem with the constitution? Do we think like anti-american, non-patriotic nazi-fascists?
Are we Republican? Does our embattled and divided party deserve such bad supporters? Should we not look into our hearts and find Ronald Reagan and Ike Eisenhower again, and shut the **** up till we have? Wouldn''t that be better for our party?
You guys really make it easy...
PS: That "ask-questions-and-don''t-answer-them" format was brought to you by Donny von Rummelsfeldenerst!
Spitzer
Blagov
Burris
Dixon
The list keeps getting longer
he took lobbying money from Fanne Mae and Fredde Mac.
he is one dirty dog.
I wondered how long it would take you Nixonites to start taking name and compiling lists again... And to think that my man Obama isn''t even in office! That''s gone be FUN for the next EIGHT years :-)
Posted by TexHillGirl at 05:21 PM : Jan 09, 2009,
Perhaps its time to nationalize the banks because the private ownership seems to have a gambling addition with derivatives.
If nationalizing the banks freeses up the credit and sacks the overpaid bankers, I am all for it!
I cannot beleive anyone still supports the notion that giving the bankers 350 billion without any accountability is a good idea. The fact is those overpaid ececutives have stiffed the taxpayers and they should be charged with treason.
No one CLAIMS? Why would anybody WANT to be known to have known what happend or TALK about it? Complicity, conspiracy, indictment in something that is about a hundred times (now!) the scale of the S&L scandal?
Everybody who had their fingers in that "bailout" (yuck, yuck!) will keep silent until he is literally on his death-bed! Nobody will ever get the skinny where anything went. My tip: watch Dubai, Halliburton moved their global HQ there for a reason...
Oh, and Barney is inocent of cause. Just like the Dems that voted for war against Iraq. Bush may have gotten a horseracer to be head of FEMA, but he is an idiot, what excuse do the Dems in congress have?
It did a survey of the local banks.
Turns out that about half of the local banks, and ALL of the credit unions are in good shape WITHOUT any government bailouts!!
Makes me wonder why we bailed out this bunch.....
Posted by TexHillGirl
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By the tone of most of your posts and the inferior vocabulary that you use, I suspect that you are among the bottom feeders you so often refer to.
Posted by mtee12
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Yes, that is a blessing, isn''t it.
It''s as if all those fringe groups that the republicans have been collecting since Ronnie Raygun and pandering to in order to get elected have now been consigned to the wilderness. They can duke it out with each other while out there in order to figure out who prevails. It''ll be an interesting show to watch.
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ROWDY aka TexHillGirl,
Where is the announcement from the Supreme Court?
Where is the announcement that the Inaguration is on hold until the Berg case is heard?
Where is the announcement that Obama cannot serve as President?
Today is the 9th, where is it?
Posted by DebinOK1
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Enjoy!!!
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ROWDY aka TexHillGirl,
Where is the announcement from the Supreme Court?
Where is the announcement that the Inaguration is on hold until the Berg case is heard?
Where is the announcement that Obama cannot serve as President?
Today is the 9th, where is it?
Posted by DebinOK1
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I dunno, DebinOk, I''''ve already told your little butt to run out there and find out for us...we''''re all waiting...what''''s your holdup?
Posted by TexHillGirl
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Oh c''mon, Rowdy...you can do better that this....
Put a little EFFORT into it...
Although it''s better to see more of a focus on foreclosures the problem is is that all of the banks are bankrupt.
Unless we put the very banks that make up the Federal Reserve into bankruptcy re-organization, we will soon se a freeze of all economic activity that will panic the world!
The global financial system is dead.
It''s time to recognize that fact and go to the solutions outlined by the very ''physical economists'' Lyndon Larouche who forcasted this crisis.
larouchepac.com
Put a little EFFORT into it...
Posted by hadenough43
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She doesn''t want to. She was wrong. That irritates her.
How many of you regularly send your opinions to your senators and representatives? Kudos to those of you who can honestly count yourselves among those. Until we make our "representatives" aware of who they work for, we should expect the same as we have already gotten. The American people keep electing the same idiots who have been creating this mess.
Put a little EFFORT into it...
Posted by hadenough43
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She doesn''''t want to. She was wrong. That irritates her.
Posted by DebinOK1
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My apologies for hijacking your question - I just COULD NOT resist.
Posted by stupidrules3
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I make myself heard. Then I get snotty letters back saying they do not agree with my position. When I voted against them, 75% of the state voted to keep them.
Posted by hadenough43
No Problem. I was eating dinner, so was away from the board anyway. It just irks her to no end that they are actually going to swear in Obama in 11 days. That gets her where we never will.
Posted by TexHillGirl
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They have already released all decisions made today. Guess what? It wasn''t there. Looks like they will swear Obama in after all. So sorry.
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Posted by DebinOK1 at 07:17 PM : Jan 09, 2009
One of my senators has never even acknowledged my e-mails or letters. So I try to convince everyone I can to vote the jerk out. He won last time but I will not stop trying.
My representative in the house is known in DC as "tight@$$" because he votes against almost all spending. I think I''d like to keep him.
My other senator responds, voted for the bank bailout, but finally started raising a stink about the auto bailout. He may figure it out, but I still want him out.
All we can do is try as hard as we can and never give up.
Posted by hadenough43
No Problem. I was eating dinner, so was away from the board anyway. It just irks her to no end that they are actually going to swear in Obama in 11 days. That gets her where we never will.
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Posted by DebinOK1 at 07:19 PM : Jan 09, 2009
Oh I''''m sure they are going to swear the lying bastward in...NO DOUBT ABOUT IT...but the lawsuits will keep coming up the pike...there''''s four in waiting right now...eventually the lawyers will get it right and put this lying arabic/muslim commie in jail....
Posted by TexHillGirl
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It just never ceases to astound and amaze me how much effort and energy folks will expend in order to sustain, nurture, and feed their own little self-created realities....
They agreed to set for review:
The voting laws challenge.
The reverse discrimination case.
Iraq Immunity.
The case for Arizona and their english speaking program.
And two Pay fairness bills.
That was it for the days conference, those are they only things they agreed to set for review or hearing.
Healine should have said " Wanted: Gay Child Molester, $50K reward" instead.
Posted by TexHillGirl
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You do realize that the California case is asking to do away with the electorate in FUTURE elections and let the popular vote stand.
Posted by TexHillGirl
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Ok Rowdy, I will bite. What OTHER case?
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I warned you about this...
There are folks out there that can walk outside at high noon, look up and let the sun warm their face.
But if they wanna believe it''s NIGHTTIME out - then that''s what they''ll believe, and their ain''t nothing in the universe that''ll change their minds....
Been dealing with ''em all my life....
Posted by TexHillGirl
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You won''t tell me? Then I would say you are blowing smoke AGAIN.
Been dealing with ''''em all my life....
Posted by hadenough43
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I always thought people outgrew that when they started school. I guess not. Either she didn''t outgrow it or she never made it to school.
Posted by TexHillGirl
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If you have proof show it, otherwise STOW IT.
Been dealing with ''''''''em all my life....
Posted by hadenough43
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I always thought people outgrew that when they started school. I guess not. Either she didn''''t outgrow it or she never made it to school.
Posted by DebinOK1
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One of the keys to dealing with such folks is to treat ''me as if they REALLY ARE who they think they are.
That''s the used car salesman''s trick...
Now either put up or shut up, it''''s up you...I''''m done messing your posturing tonite...
Your attack bichhhhh game is not worth it.
Posted by TexHillGirl
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Typical Rowdy, can''t put up, can''t shut up. Either you can state the case or you cant. Because the only case showing on the Supreme Court docket is the request to remove the electoral votes and let the popular vote stand in the next Presidential election.
That''''s the used car salesman''''s trick...
Posted by hadenough43
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But, but, but if I do that then she doesn''t get made and show her true self and start calling names.
Now if YOU want to talk with authority, I suggest you become more informed.
Now I''''m done.
Posted by TexHillGirl
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It went to conference today. And was removed from the docket. I went to the case file. It was removed.
Today, my wife was laid off her job after working with this subsudiary of a Georgia bank for nearly 8 years. They waited until the end of the day and then escorted her out like she was a criminal... but with a wonderful reccomendation to take on her search for her next job.
To: Mr. Barney Frank: Sir, you are about the most arrogant and elitist member in congress. It is my hope that you get your own pink slip next election.
To: Barack Obama: Your tax breaks do not help the working poor or the growing numbers of unemployed.
To: George Bush: You betrayed your nation and someday I hope you will have to fece the people you so carelessly set aside.
We will survive but no more trust, no more patience. Our government is corrupt and owned by the banks. It is time to start from scratch.
That''''''''s the used car salesman''''''''s trick...
Posted by hadenough43
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But, but, but if I do that then she doesn''''t get made and show her true self and start calling names.
Posted by DebinOK1
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I know, I know, it''s so much fun.
Incidentally, it doesn''t have much to do with "schooling", it has to do with weakness of character.
You see, the NEWS has an emotional impact...and there are those who just ain''t strong enough to sustain the impact. So they ivnvest an unbelievable amount of energy into defense mechanisms.
Trouble is...we tend to lose energy as we get older and sooner or later it all comes crashing in.
I think that''s what''s happening with that idiot-son in the white house right now.
Trouble is...we tend to lose energy as we get older and sooner or later it all comes crashing in.
I think that''''s what''''s happening with that idiot-son in the white house right now.
Posted by hadenough43
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I guess I should feel sorry for her if thats the case. After all we with sound minds are the more mature people in the situation. After all we don''t want to do mental battle with someone who isn''t armed
Trouble is...we tend to lose energy as we get older and sooner or later it all comes crashing in.
I think that''''''''s what''''''''s happening with that idiot-son in the white house right now.
Posted by hadenough43
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I guess I should feel sorry for her if thats the case. After all we with sound minds are the more mature people in the situation. After all we don''''t want to do mental battle with someone who isn''''t armed
Posted by DebinOK1
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That''s where Rowdy has a lot in common with the idiot-son. Niether one of ''em are coming from a place of intellect or brains.
Both of ''me are coming from a place a little south of that.
Both of ''''me are coming from a place a little south of that.
Posted by hadenough43
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Seems to me they should be considered a danger to themselves or others.
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