Sugar Land Sun - News
House approves $700 bailout
By AUDREY M. MARKS
A $700 billion federal rescue of the financial market will now go to President Bush, after the U.S. House of Representatives voted 263-171 to pass the legislation Friday afternoon.
The measure will allow the Treasury Secretary to buy bad mortgages in order to loosen up credit markets and free up capitol to increase lending.
The House-passed bill is the same version passed in the Senate on Wednesday, which includes an increase for Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insured bank deposits from $100,000 to $250,000.
The legislation carries an add-on of more than $120 billion that includes funding for mental health parity, business tax cuts, a patch to the Alternative Minimum Tax that would impact millions of middle-class families, as well as $8 billion in tax breaks for areas affected by natural disasters like Texas, Louisiana and the Midwest.
President Bush said in remarks on Friday he will sign it as soon as he gets the bill.
President Bush said in remarks on Friday he will sign it as soon as he gets the bill.
The added sweeteners were not enough to change the vote of U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, who found the measure hard to swallow.
"The core of the bailout legislation remains unchanged and unacceptable. In fact, the grotesque waste of tax dollars to fund pet projects in an effort to garner support for a bad bill makes it worse," Lampson said in a statement Friday.
"It forces the average taxpayer to pay for a crisis that they did not create.”
Lampson, a fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrat, voted against the first House bail out bill on Monday.
He said he objected to some of the pet projects thrown in the bill that include benefits for the makers of wooden arrows for children, earmarks for racetracks, and benefits for film and television production companies.
“At a moment when Americans are struggling to pay for a child's education, stay in their homes or pay for rising energy costs it is outrageous to make them foot the bill for the excesses of others,” Lampson said.
“We need to find a solution for the financial crisis but we can do better than this; America can do better than this.”
Lampson was one of 63 Democrats and 108 Republicans who voted against the bill.
The measure will allow the Treasury Secretary to buy bad mortgages in order to loosen up credit markets and free up capitol to increase lending.
The House-passed bill is the same version passed in the Senate on Wednesday, which includes an increase for Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insured bank deposits from $100,000 to $250,000.
The legislation carries an add-on of more than $120 billion that includes funding for mental health parity, business tax cuts, a patch to the Alternative Minimum Tax that would impact millions of middle-class families, as well as $8 billion in tax breaks for areas affected by natural disasters like Texas, Louisiana and the Midwest.
President Bush said in remarks on Friday he will sign it as soon as he gets the bill.
President Bush said in remarks on Friday he will sign it as soon as he gets the bill.
The added sweeteners were not enough to change the vote of U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, who found the measure hard to swallow.
"The core of the bailout legislation remains unchanged and unacceptable. In fact, the grotesque waste of tax dollars to fund pet projects in an effort to garner support for a bad bill makes it worse," Lampson said in a statement Friday.
"It forces the average taxpayer to pay for a crisis that they did not create.”
Lampson, a fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrat, voted against the first House bail out bill on Monday.
He said he objected to some of the pet projects thrown in the bill that include benefits for the makers of wooden arrows for children, earmarks for racetracks, and benefits for film and television production companies.
“At a moment when Americans are struggling to pay for a child's education, stay in their homes or pay for rising energy costs it is outrageous to make them foot the bill for the excesses of others,” Lampson said.
“We need to find a solution for the financial crisis but we can do better than this; America can do better than this.”
Lampson was one of 63 Democrats and 108 Republicans who voted against the bill.
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