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WASHINGTON : A battle appeared to be brewing Saturday between the Republican administration of President George W Bush and leaders of the Democratic-controlled Congress over the government's landmark request for 700 billion dollars to bail out financial institutions.
Coming on the heels of the unprecedented government rescue of giant insurer American International Group (AIG) and the seizure of mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the legislation could produce the most significant changes in financial regulation since the 1930s Great Depression.
The plan, which the Bush administration sent to Congress late Friday, gives Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sweeping authority over the next two years to buy up to 700 billion dollars of toxic mortgage-related assets to stem the grave financial crisis, according to a draft proposal.
Congressional and administration officials, including Paulson, planned to work on the bailout plan through the weekend due to the urgency of the situation, which the Bush administration says would be catastrophic for the US financial system if left unaddressed.
Lawmakers expect to pass the legislation next week.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Democrats would work with Republicans to craft a bailout measure, but insisted that the interests of common Americans must be kept in mind.
In a statement late Saturday, Pelosi said the Bush administration "has requested that Congress authorize, in very short order, sweeping and unprecedented powers for the Treasury secretary to confront a financial crisis of historic proportions."
Democrats will work with Bush officials to address the crisis, she said, "but we must insulate Main Street from Wall Street and keep people in their homes by reducing mortgage foreclosures."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: "It is now self-evident that the Bush administration's extreme hands-off policies have been disastrous ... The American people have every right to be outraged that we are at this point."
Reid said the Bush administration proposal "raises some serious issues" and insisted "we need to resolve them quickly."
"Meanwhile, I call on the president to better explain to the public the severity of the threat all Americans face, and why he believes his approach is needed," he said.
The Republican Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, issued a statement calling for the bailout plan to remain free of "partisan plans or pet projects."
"This proposal is, and should be kept, simple and clear," McConnell said. "We have the opportunity here to help protect Americans on Main Street."
In a fact sheet on the plan released late Saturday, the Treasury Department said that private asset managers would manage the assets at its direction "to meet program objectives."
The pricing of the toxic mortgage-related assets, whose value has plummeted in the worst US real-estate slump in decades, will be done "through market mechanisms where possible, such as reverse auctions," the Treasury said.
The fact sheet did not specify what type of financial institutions qualified for the bailout, but appeared to opens the door to foreign firms.
"Participating financial institutions must have significant operations in the US, unless the (Treasury) secretary makes a determination, in consultation with the chairman of the Federal Reserve, that broader eligibility is necessary to effectively stabilize financial markets."
Speaking after a week of upheaval in financial markets, Bush defended the proposed bailout, citing the gravity of the financial crisis.
"This is a big package because it was a big problem," Bush told reporters Saturday.
"I will tell our citizens and continue to remind them that the risk of doing nothing far outweighs the risk of the package," Bush said.
"And that over time, we're going to get a lot of the money back," he said.
He said his administration would work with lawmakers "to get a bill done quickly."
Senator Charles Schumer of New York said that Paulson, in talks Saturday, had "understood that many in Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, want to make sure there are protections for homeowners, and in the next day there will be a whole lot of discussions between the Congress and the secretary's office about that subject."
Negotiations on the proposed bailout could be complicated by a tight presidential election race six weeks ahead of November 4 elections and as Democrats battle to bolster their narrow majority in Congress.
The White House plan would lift the public debt limit, to 11.3 trillion dollars from 10.6 trillion. The limit is the maximum amount of money the government can borrow without authorization from Congress.
The rescue package follows an escalating 14-month-old credit crunch stemming from a meltdown in US home prices after a frenzied real-estate boom fueled by easy credit.
- AFP/vm
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