WORLD> America
Dodd: 'No second act' to fixing financial mess
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-23 23:25

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration urgently pressed Congress in public and private Tuesday to move quickly on a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry as Democratic and Republican lawmakers vented their anger over a crisis that pushed the nation's economy to the brink.


A City of London worker hold an umbrella as he walk in the city London, Tuesday Sept. 23, 2008. World stock markets fell Tuesday amid widening fears that a US plan to rescue financial companies from bad mortgage debt would do little to prevent a world economic slowdown.  [Agencies]

Stocks rose in the opening hour as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson went before the Senate Banking Committee to say that quick passage of the administration's plan is "the single most effective thing we can do to help homeowners, the American people and stimulate our economy."

But even before Paulson could speak, lawmakers expressed their unhappiness.

"We all recognize the gravity of the situation," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the committee's chairman. He said a combination of "private greed and public regulatory neglect" had produced an "economic maelstrom."

Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the panel's senior Republican, was even more blunt. "I have long opposed government bailouts for individuals and corporate American alike," he said. Seated a few feet away from Paulson and Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal reserve, he added, "We have been given no credible assurances that this plan will work. We could very well send $700 billion, or a trillion, and not resolve the crisis."

Dodd and other key Democrats have been in private negotiations with the administration since the weekend on legislation designed to allow the government to buy bad debts held by banks and other financial institutions. Key details remain unresolved, although the Democratic--controlled Congress is expected to vote in the next several days on a far--reaching measure.

The hearing unfolded as Vice President Dick Cheney and Jim Nussle, the Bush administration's budget director, met privately with House Republicans. Some members of the GOP rank and file have expressed concerns about the bailout proposal, either because they view it as an unwarranted government intrusion into the financial markets, or because the $700 billion price tag gives them pause.

"Just because God created the world in seven days doesn't mean we have to pass this bill in seven days," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas.

Added Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., "I am emphatically against it."

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