Debt Ceiling Debate Begins
From The Wall Street Journal:
The Senate voted Thursday to wind down the Treasury's financial-market bailout plan as part a broader bill that would raise the government's debt ceiling, but the 53-40 tally serves only as a symbolic show of disapproval because a Senate rule requires 60 votes to pass any amendments to the legislation.
The proposal was the first of a series Republicans plan to offer as the Senate debates a bill to increase the amount of debt the government can issue by $1.9 trillion to $14.3 trillion.
The move to wind down the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, . . . drew support from 13 Democrats along with all 40 Republicans [and] called for using unspent bailout funds to reduce the federal budget deficit.
The Democratic leadership opposed the amendment, saying it would handcuff Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's efforts to ensure the stability of financial markets.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, who voted against the amendment, said TARP funds should be used to make loans to small businesses struggling to tap the commercial-credit markets. The Connecticut Democrat said there is approximately $320 billion of unspent TARP money that could be at least partly used to stimulate private-sector job growth.
Republicans said the crisis facing financial firms has passed and that the Obama administration is trying to use TARP money as a slush fund to score political points.
They also are pushing for a freeze to federal discretionary spending for the next five years, and to cancel unspent money from last year's $787 billion economic-stimulus plan. Some senators also want legislation to create a commission made up primarily of lawmakers to come up with ways to tackle the country's long-term fiscal challenges. The Obama administration instead has proposed that a commission be created by the president's executive authority, but some senators have argued that such a panel would lack the requisite authority to force Congress to hold a vote on the commission's findings.
The Senate voted Thursday to wind down the Treasury's financial-market bailout plan as part a broader bill that would raise the government's debt ceiling, but the 53-40 tally serves only as a symbolic show of disapproval because a Senate rule requires 60 votes to pass any amendments to the legislation.
The proposal was the first of a series Republicans plan to offer as the Senate debates a bill to increase the amount of debt the government can issue by $1.9 trillion to $14.3 trillion.
The move to wind down the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, . . . drew support from 13 Democrats along with all 40 Republicans [and] called for using unspent bailout funds to reduce the federal budget deficit.
The Democratic leadership opposed the amendment, saying it would handcuff Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's efforts to ensure the stability of financial markets.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, who voted against the amendment, said TARP funds should be used to make loans to small businesses struggling to tap the commercial-credit markets. The Connecticut Democrat said there is approximately $320 billion of unspent TARP money that could be at least partly used to stimulate private-sector job growth.
Republicans said the crisis facing financial firms has passed and that the Obama administration is trying to use TARP money as a slush fund to score political points.
They also are pushing for a freeze to federal discretionary spending for the next five years, and to cancel unspent money from last year's $787 billion economic-stimulus plan. Some senators also want legislation to create a commission made up primarily of lawmakers to come up with ways to tackle the country's long-term fiscal challenges. The Obama administration instead has proposed that a commission be created by the president's executive authority, but some senators have argued that such a panel would lack the requisite authority to force Congress to hold a vote on the commission's findings.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 7:53 AM
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