As per RG's post below, it's obvious you get your information from the Internet, and you believe what you read. The first bill, as tendered, had no pork at all. It was 3 pages long and basically annointed Paulson as the Bailout Czar, with complete authority over the money and almost zero accountability. It was a typical example of the style of governance that the Bush-Cheney White House espouses, i.e. executive orders bypassing the legislative process, The fact the the second bill, which in actuality was the third version of the bill,was/is the porked up and bloated bill we're living with now, and if you take the time to plow through it, then take the time to see who's responsible for the big pork items. There's plenty to blame on both sides, and it's indicative of what's wrong in Wshington, but between the bills, I'd still opt for one that was arrived at through the legislative process rather than an imperial edict issued by a White House that has tried it's best to circumvent Congress throughout the past 8 years.
Ok, since I am getting all the information from the wrong sources, I would like to ask you if you will be kind to recommend your sources of info, I agree regarding the internet and the way that it could be manipulated, specially when you have so much power when you can control the information in the web, just to give you an example. the Google owners(Larry Page and Sergey Brin) they are big supporters of obama [media=youtube]m4yVlPqeZwo[/media] then you have Google's VP, Mr David Drummond http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/yahoo-and-future-of-internet.html http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/david-drummond.asp?cycle=08 When you control Google and Youtube you can just imagine the type of information that can be suppressed, they control the biggest search engine and the biggest video file sharing in the world. Then you have the newspapers in the other hand, I don't really know who to believe anymore.
One more thing amigo(a)s regarding the POTUS and his future picks for the White House.. Who do you think it would be great picks to work for the POTUS for the next 4 years? He already picked Rahm Emanuel from Chicago to be the Chief Of Staff.http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6201900&page=1 President-elect Barack Obama's newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot "red flags," according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com.
Well, the Congressional Record is a good start. You can find it at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html. I don't think Ruppurt Murdoch owns it (yet). Here's the original proposal. You'll note that as I said, Paulson had 90 days of free-reign, then must report to Congress, but there was no oversight of his actions. As I said, it fit on 3 pages. I could post the October 3rd Bill as passed, but I think Steve would kill me. The 120 page version can be found here http://bit.ly/aYHC Text of Draft Proposal for Bailout Plan Published: September 20, 2008 LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS Section 1. Short Title. This Act may be cited as ____________________. Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets. (a) Authority to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States. (b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation: (1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties; (2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts; (3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them; (4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and (5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act. Sec. 3. Considerations. In exercising the authorities granted in this Act, the Secretary shall take into consideration means for-- (1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and (2) protecting the taxpayer. Sec. 4. Reports to Congress. Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act and the considerations required by section 3. Sec. 5. Rights; Management; Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets. (a) Exercise of Rights.--The Secretary may, at any time, exercise any rights received in connection with mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act. (b) Management of Mortgage-Related Assets.--The Secretary shall have authority to manage mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act, including revenues and portfolio risks therefrom. (c) Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.--The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act. (d) Application of Sunset to Mortgage-Related Assets.--The authority of the Secretary to hold any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act before the termination date in section 9, or to purchase or fund the purchase of a mortgage-related asset under a commitment entered into before the termination date in section 9, is not subject to the provisions of section 9. Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases. The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time Sec. 7. Funding. For the purpose of the authorities granted in this Act, and for the costs of administering those authorities, the Secretary may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are extended to include actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses. Any funds expended for actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses, shall be deemed appropriated at the time of such expenditure. Sec. 8. Review. Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency. Sec. 9. Termination of Authority. The authorities under this Act, with the exception of authorities granted in sections 2(b)(5), 5 and 7, shall terminate two years from the date of enactment of this Act. Sec. 10. Increase in Statutory Limit on the Public Debt. Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $11,315,000,000,000. Sec. 11. Credit Reform. The costs of purchases of mortgage-related assets made under section 2(a) of this Act shall be determined as provided under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, as applicable. Sec. 12. Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply: (1) Mortgage-Related Assets.--The term “mortgage-related assets” means residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before September 17, 2008. (2) Secretary.--The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Treasury. (3) United States.--The term “United States” means the States, territories, and possessions of the United States and the District of Columbia.
Emanuel was on the board of Freddie Mac during one of the more controversial periods in its history, and the Securities and Exchange Commission last year charged the housing finance company with accounting fraud between 1998 and 2002. Emanuel was not named. The company's accounting problems came to light when he was serving on the House Financial Services Committee. Emanuel had already recused himself from votes related to the company.
More on the Pork http://www.slate.com/id/2203982?wpisrc=newsletter is a pretty accurate account of how the Bill grew.
