WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of
Representatives on Friday approved a revised 700 billion dollars bailout plan,
authorizing the government the largest financial intervention since the Great
Depression, and President George W. Bush immediately signed the plan into law on
the same day.
The financial bailout package was passed by a vote of
263-171, a comfortable margin that was 58 more votes than the measure garnered
in Monday's stunning defeat.
U.S.House of Representatives Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (front L) presents the financial rescue package bill she just
signed in Washington, Oct. 3, 2008. The U.S. House of Representatives on
Friday approved a revised 700 billion dollar bailout plan, authorizing the
U.S. government the largest financial intervention since the Great
Depression. The financial bailout package was passed by a vote of 263-171.
The Senate passed the measure earlier in the week on a bipartisan vote of
74-25. (Xinhua Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
Monday's
vote sent markets plunging around the globe and forced the Bush Administration
and congressional leadership to scramble and salvage the rescue plan. The Senate
passed the new version Wednesday on a bipartisan vote of 74-25.
President Bush signed the measure at his desk in the
White House after returning from the nearby Treasury Department where he thanked
employees for their hard work on the rescue package, U.S. media reported.
Bush also praised the Congress's efforts, saying the
passage represented "decisive action to ease the credit crunch that is now
threatening our economy."
"A short time ago, the House of Representatives
passed a bill that is essential to helping America's economy weather the
financial crisis," Bush said.
"We have acted boldly to help prevent the crisis on
Wall Street from becoming -- from becoming a crisis in communities across our
country," said the president. "We have shown the world that the United States of
America will stabilize our financial markets and maintain a leading role in the
global economy."
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke
stressed that the 700 billion dollar bailout plan was "a critical step" in
stabilizing markets and restoring credit flows.
The Fed "will continue to work closely with the
Treasury as it undertakes these new initiatives" and would "continue to use all
of the powers at our disposal to mitigate credit market disruptions and to
foster a strong, vibrant economy," he said.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson also pledged that he
will take quick action to get the 700 billion dollar rescue bill up and
operating.
"This was obviously a very important vote. It was a
vote to protect the American people ... and their jobs," Paulson said.
Under the rescue bill, the federal government will be
authorized to purchase these assets from banks and other financialinstitutions,
which is expected to help free them to resume lending to businesses and
consumers.
The new version approved by the Congress will raise
federal deposit insurance limits to 250,000 dollars from 100,000 dollars per
account, as suggested by the two White House hopefuls days ago.
Another big change is the introduction of a 10-year,
150.5 billion package of tax proposals, including measures to ease the bit of
the so-called alternative minimum tax and R&D tax credits coveted by
high-tech companies and drug makers.
The change in the bill were quantifiable, the initial
proposal from the Treasury Department ran three pages, while the latest version
exceeds 450.
Supporters said the bailout was needed to prevent
economic collapse; opponents said it was hasty, ill-conceived and risked too
much taxpayer money to help Wall Street tycoons, while providing no guarantees
of success.
In the Senate, lawmakers who opposed the plan on
Wednesday warned that it still did not address the root problems in the American
financial system, including lax regulation.
However, as the shape of the new bill became clearer
on Wednesday, some lawmakers in the House indicated that they might change their
minds.
"No matter what we do or what we pass, there are
still tough times out there. People are mad -- I'm mad," said Republican
Representative J. Gresham Barrett before the vote, who opposed the bill on
Monday.
"We have to act. We have to act now," he noted.
"I have decided that the cost of doing nothing is
greater than the cost of doing something," said Representative John Lewis,
another convert.
The Bush Administration and key lawmakers have warned
repeatedly that economic crisis will become a full-fledged disaster if Congress
rejects the rescue plan.
Credit-market turmoil is hitting local governments.
U.S. states and municipalities have managed to sell about 700 million dollars of
tax-exempt bonds this week, less than 15 percent of a typical week's new
fixed-rate issues.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote
Paulson Thursday night, saying that his and other states may need emergency
federal loans to maintain government operations.
"This credit crisis has the power to grind the U.S.
economy to a halt," Schwarzenegger wrote in a letter e-mailed to Paulson.
The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, urged her
colleagues to approve the bill, saying the bill was needed to "begin to shape
the financial stability of our country and the economic security of our people."
"If the financial markets fail to function, American
families will face great difficulty in getting loans to purchase a home, buy a
family car or finance a child's education," the White House said in a written
statement released Friday morning.
"We're in the midst of a recession. It's going to a
rough ride, but it's going to be a whole lot rougher ride if we don't pass this
bill today," warned House Minority Leader John Boehner before the vote.
But some Republican lawmakers still opposed the
measure Friday. "If Congress bails out some firms and sectors, how can it say no
to others?" asked Representative Jeb Hensarling.
As the United States finally
adopted the 700-U.S. billion-dollar bailout plan Friday in efforts to cope
with the escalating financial crisis, a divided European Union (EU) is
unlikely to follow suit. Full story
Under the present
political climate, the issue is far more than an economic decision the
country has to make, and high-stake bipartisan politics are being
intensely played out and will determine the outcome of the bailout
debate. Full story
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) --
U.S. President George W. Bush warned Tuesday that the damage to the
nation's economy will be "painful and lasting" if Congress fails to act to
rescue markets. Full story
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) --
U.S. President George W. Bush said on Monday he was disappointed at the
House's rejection of the 700 billion U.S. dollar bailout plan, vowing to
"address this economic situation head on." Full story
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Bush administration is
planning to buy 700 billion dollars of bad debt from financial
institutions in efforts to deal with the financial crisis.
Full story
Backgrounder: Wall Street's Five Investment Banks Collapse
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Federal Reserve
said Sunday it has approved a request by two U.S. major investment banks
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to become bank holding companies.
Full story
NEW YORK, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Merrill Lynch &
Co., the third largest U.S. investment bank, agreed late Sunday to sell
itself to Bank of America Corp. for roughly 44 billion U.S. dollars.
Full story
BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhuanet) --
Barclays, UK's third largest bank, Sunday withdrew its bid to buy
investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., U.S. media reports
said. Full story
The fall of Bear Stearns
BEIJING, March 21 -- This week, the
crisis in credit markets claimed Bear Stearns. The eighty-five year old
investment bank in New York agreed on Sunday to sell itself to J.P. Morgan
Chase. The fall of Bear Stearns developed quickly. Banks were
no longer willing to lend money to the company. The problems largely
involved short-term loans, called repo borrowings, that are secured by
assets like securities. (Source: China Daily)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government
said on Sunday that it will take over two mortgage giants Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac in order to stabilize the financial market. Full story
BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The U.S. Federal
Reserve announced Wednesday that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will
lend an 85 billion-U.S. dollar-bridge-loan to American International Group
Inc. (AIG) to save the country's biggest insurer from bankruptcy. Full story
LONDON, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister
Gorden Brown launched on Friday a new National Economic Council (NEC) that
"will advise on measures to steer the economy through the current global
crisis." Full story
BRUSSELS, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The European
Commission swiftly approved on Wednesday the British rescue aid package
for Bradford and Bingley, the British mortgage bank which fell prey to the
global credit crunch. Full story
BERLIN, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Germany will not join
in the 700 billion U.S. dollars bailout package provided by the U.S.
government to deal with the financial crisis, said a government spokesman
on Monday. Full story
PARIS, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- French Prime Minister
Francois Fillon said Monday that his government will continue to carry out
structural reforms and will not adopt monetary tightening or incentive
measures in face of the global economic slowdown. Full story
TOKYO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of
Japan (BOJ) said Monday it will provide dollar funds for 40 Japanese and
foreign financial institutions through auction as part of six major
central banks' coordinated action to regulate the market in short-term
finance between banks and other financial institutions. Full story
SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korean
government said Monday that the government and the private sector plan to
invest 4 trillion won (87.5 billion U.S. dollars) in future growth engine
industries over the next five years. Full story
