Democrat Congress To Adjourn Leaving Mess Behind
Democratic Congress May Adjourn, Leave Crisis to Fed, Treasury
The Democratic-controlled Congress, acknowledging that it isn't equipped to lead the way to a solution for the financial crisis and can't agree on a path to follow, is likely to just get out of the way.
Lawmakers say they are unlikely to take action before, or to delay, their planned adjournments Sept. 26 for the House of Representatives, a week later for the Senate. While they haven't ruled out returning after the Nov. 4 elections, they would rather wait until next year unless Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who are leading efforts to contain the crisis, call for help.
One reason, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday, is that no one knows what to do at the moment.
When you rush to judgment, you usually make mistakes, said Sherwood Boehlert, a former Republican congressman from New York. This is something you can't go on forever without addressing, but Congress in a short span of time is best served by going home.
In 2002, after accounting scandals forced Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. into bankruptcy, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley law, setting new corporate-governance rules. While the measure passed unanimously in the Senate and overwhelmingly in the House, it has since become a target of criticism from some Republicans, including presidential candidate John McCain, and from many in the business and financial worlds.
There's a huge danger that needs to be guarded against that we'll have a tremendous overreaction in regulations,'' former Treasury Secretary John Snow said in an interview.
Reid's `Despair'
Still, the Democrats opened themselves up for attack with Reid's comments. The Republican National Committee pounced on the Nevada lawmaker for his despair, and Senator Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican, said his remarks are not a way to inspire confidence or begin to turn the tide.
And there were some calls for at least a bipartisan show of leadership during the crisis, which has resulted in the collapse of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, investment banks Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. and insurer American International Group Inc. among other companies.
Unless party leaders on both sides of the aisle join with President George W. Bush to endorse a solution, there's little Congress and the president can do in the near term to restore market confidence, said Chuck Gabriel, managing director of Capital Alpha Partners LLC, which advises investors on politics and Washington.
White House Lawn
Wall Street would respond positively if the president and Treasury Secretary Paulson and a couple of Cabinet members and the Republican and Democratic leadership all went on the White House lawn and said that we are resolved to taking additional measures in the coming weeks despite the elections to ensure that confidence is restored, Gabriel said.
But the odds of that seem very, very low.
Some committee chairmen have scheduled hearings and promised better oversight.
Representative Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will hold two days of hearings on Oct. 6 and 7 to examine what went wrong and who should be held to account at AIG and Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15.
Waxman's committee summoned Lehman Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld, AIG CEO Robert Willumstad and former AIG chiefs Maurice Hank Greenberg and Martin Sullivan to speak.
Work Will Continue
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the decision of Congress to adjourn. Lawmakers can always be recalled to Washington if there is a need to do so, she told reporters yesterday. In the meantime, House and Senate committees will hold hearings and the financial crisis will be studied by Congress, she said. Our work will continue even if we are not still on the floor, she said.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said Congress could give the Federal Reserve authority to pay interest on bank reserves sooner than originally scheduled.
They already have the authority; it's just a question of moving it up a couple of years, Frank, of Massachusetts, told reporters yesterday. We're trying to work that out.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said the Fed also has the power to buy and dispose of bad debt stemming from the subprime-mortgage crisis.
The Fed has the authority to move in this area, Dodd told reporters in Washington.
No `Quick Fixes'
Creating a separate agency to take on bad debt, akin to the Resolution Trust Corp. set up in 1989 to absorb losses from savings-and-loan associations, would take about a year, he said. Instead, the Fed should use its own authority to act.
Senator Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican active on housing issues, scoffed at suggestions that lawmakers postpone adjournment to rewrite laws governing the financial markets.
The last thing you need, he said, are 535 people, not many of whom are that well-versed in financial markets, trying to do quick fixes to a market correction that's one of the more significant that we've ever seen.
Story Here
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I dont know whether to laugh or cry about Congress Adjourning! On one hand you have this backassward's do nothing Congress who created this whole fiasco to begin with, leaving and dropping this all on the President. Then again when they are in session, are they really? We cant even get an energy bill out of these idiot's! And then Harry Reid doesnt know what's going on? Maybe they should just adjourn and stay the hell Home!
The Democratic-controlled Congress, acknowledging that it isn't equipped to lead the way to a solution for the financial crisis and can't agree on a path to follow, is likely to just get out of the way.
Lawmakers say they are unlikely to take action before, or to delay, their planned adjournments Sept. 26 for the House of Representatives, a week later for the Senate. While they haven't ruled out returning after the Nov. 4 elections, they would rather wait until next year unless Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who are leading efforts to contain the crisis, call for help.
One reason, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday, is that no one knows what to do at the moment.
When you rush to judgment, you usually make mistakes, said Sherwood Boehlert, a former Republican congressman from New York. This is something you can't go on forever without addressing, but Congress in a short span of time is best served by going home.
In 2002, after accounting scandals forced Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. into bankruptcy, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley law, setting new corporate-governance rules. While the measure passed unanimously in the Senate and overwhelmingly in the House, it has since become a target of criticism from some Republicans, including presidential candidate John McCain, and from many in the business and financial worlds.
There's a huge danger that needs to be guarded against that we'll have a tremendous overreaction in regulations,'' former Treasury Secretary John Snow said in an interview.
Reid's `Despair'
Still, the Democrats opened themselves up for attack with Reid's comments. The Republican National Committee pounced on the Nevada lawmaker for his despair, and Senator Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican, said his remarks are not a way to inspire confidence or begin to turn the tide.
And there were some calls for at least a bipartisan show of leadership during the crisis, which has resulted in the collapse of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, investment banks Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. and insurer American International Group Inc. among other companies.
Unless party leaders on both sides of the aisle join with President George W. Bush to endorse a solution, there's little Congress and the president can do in the near term to restore market confidence, said Chuck Gabriel, managing director of Capital Alpha Partners LLC, which advises investors on politics and Washington.
White House Lawn
Wall Street would respond positively if the president and Treasury Secretary Paulson and a couple of Cabinet members and the Republican and Democratic leadership all went on the White House lawn and said that we are resolved to taking additional measures in the coming weeks despite the elections to ensure that confidence is restored, Gabriel said.
But the odds of that seem very, very low.
Some committee chairmen have scheduled hearings and promised better oversight.
Representative Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will hold two days of hearings on Oct. 6 and 7 to examine what went wrong and who should be held to account at AIG and Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15.
Waxman's committee summoned Lehman Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld, AIG CEO Robert Willumstad and former AIG chiefs Maurice Hank Greenberg and Martin Sullivan to speak.
Work Will Continue
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the decision of Congress to adjourn. Lawmakers can always be recalled to Washington if there is a need to do so, she told reporters yesterday. In the meantime, House and Senate committees will hold hearings and the financial crisis will be studied by Congress, she said. Our work will continue even if we are not still on the floor, she said.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said Congress could give the Federal Reserve authority to pay interest on bank reserves sooner than originally scheduled.
They already have the authority; it's just a question of moving it up a couple of years, Frank, of Massachusetts, told reporters yesterday. We're trying to work that out.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said the Fed also has the power to buy and dispose of bad debt stemming from the subprime-mortgage crisis.
The Fed has the authority to move in this area, Dodd told reporters in Washington.
No `Quick Fixes'
Creating a separate agency to take on bad debt, akin to the Resolution Trust Corp. set up in 1989 to absorb losses from savings-and-loan associations, would take about a year, he said. Instead, the Fed should use its own authority to act.
Senator Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican active on housing issues, scoffed at suggestions that lawmakers postpone adjournment to rewrite laws governing the financial markets.
The last thing you need, he said, are 535 people, not many of whom are that well-versed in financial markets, trying to do quick fixes to a market correction that's one of the more significant that we've ever seen.
Story Here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I dont know whether to laugh or cry about Congress Adjourning! On one hand you have this backassward's do nothing Congress who created this whole fiasco to begin with, leaving and dropping this all on the President. Then again when they are in session, are they really? We cant even get an energy bill out of these idiot's! And then Harry Reid doesnt know what's going on? Maybe they should just adjourn and stay the hell Home!
Labels: Democrat Congress
posted by Marie's Two Cents | 11:44 AM
8 Comments:
Is this congress for real or what?
It's really hard to believe that these people are supposed to be on our side!
Throwing Stones,
If we think this Democrat run Congress is bad, we can really look forward to an Obama Presidency!
Look what a mess this Democrat controlled Congress has made in just 2 friggen years!!
We HAVE to get rid of the Democrats Period!
Monday, December 03, 2007
GOP Senators break record for filibusters
Joe Sudbay (DC) · 12/03/2007 09:09:00 AM ET · Link
Mitch McConnell should be so proud. His GOP caucus has broken a record for obstruction in the Senate:
The filibuster may be well established in the popular consciousness — think of long-winded senators speechifying for days. But because modern Senate rules allow lawmakers to avoid the spectacle of pontificating by merely threatening the act, filibusters and the efforts to overcome them are being used more frequently, and on more issues, than at any other point in history.
So far in this first year of the 110th Congress, there have been 72 motions to stop filibusters, most on the Iraq war but also on routine issues like reauthorizing Amtrak funding. There were 68 such motions in the full two years of the previous Congress, 53 in 1987-88 and 23 in 1977-78. In 1967-68, there were 5 such votes, one of them on a plan to amend cloture itself, which failed.
For policy making, this is the legislative equivalent of gum on a shoe.
It has produced a numbing cycle of Washington futility: House Democrats pass a bill, but Senate Democrats, facing a filibuster by the Republican minority, fail to get the 60 votes needed to end debate (FACT). Little wonder that approval ratings of Congress stink these days.
One solution is a filibuster proof Senate -- 60 Democrats. That's a big goal, but with all the GOP retirements and scandals, McConnell is leading his party towards that possibility.
TRUTH HURTS.
Interesting post, Marie. Thank you for sharing your two cents.
Thge thing to do is vote the democrats out. They have done nothing but make matters worse by being behind the collapse of Fannie Mae and freddie Mac.
They turned those taxpayer backed lending agencies into a slush fund for top democrats. They have stonewalled every reform on Fannie Mae aad Freddie mac because that was their private piggy bank. They should be made to pay. Yeah, moron guy the truth really does hurt when you're own party, the dhimicrats are the ones that have caused this whole financial mess. You should be proud. azzhole
It only validates the old prison adage, federalist: "What goes around, comes around."
Since almost everything Congress does takes some form of "take your money and run your life", the country is usually better off when they can't actually do anything.
Loan Titans Paid McCain Adviser Nearly $2 Million
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and CHARLES DUHIGG
Published: September 21, 2008
Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.
Skip to next paragraph
Andrew Councill for The New York Times
Mr. McCain, the Republican candidate for president, has recently begun campaigning as a critic of the two companies and the lobbying army that helped them evade greater regulation as they began buying riskier mortgages with implicit federal backing. He and his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, have donors and advisers who are tied to the companies.
But last week the McCain campaign stepped up a running battle of guilt by association when it began broadcasting commercials trying to link Mr. Obama directly to the government bailout of the mortgage giants this month by charging that he takes advice from Fannie Mae’s former chief executive, Franklin Raines, an assertion both Mr. Raines and the Obama campaign dispute.
Incensed by the advertisements, several current and former executives of the companies came forward to discuss the role that Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s campaign manager and longtime adviser, played in helping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac beat back regulatory challenges when he served as president of their advocacy group, the Homeownership Alliance, formed in the summer of 2000. Some who came forward were Democrats, but Republicans, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed their descriptions.
AND WE JUST NOW LEARN THAT JOHNNY AND CINDY OWN 13 CARS!
THIS CAN'T BE GOOD...
Fed,
This bill is going to be passed with the least amount of damage done to the taxpayer as possible!
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Ortho,
Dont you have me listed on your blog as Marie's Two Pennies? LOL
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Jenn,
God Yes! Vote the Democrat's AND The RINOS!!
This Congress has the lowest approval rating in US History!
Isnt it like 9% Approval now?
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Indigo,
Yes have mercy it's better when Congress just leaves town. But this time they actually have to stick around and work lol
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Fed,
GET OVER IT!
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