Bipartisan Support for Wall St. Rescue Plan Emerges [View All]

[FourScore]

Source: NYT

...The proposal, presented on Saturday, would raise the national debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion and would place no restrictions on the administration other than requiring semiannual reports to Congress while allowing the Treasury secretary unprecedented power to buy and resell mortgage debt.

With some estimates that the program could involve the purchase of as much as $1 trillion in assets from private firms, Mr. Paulson emphasized that the true cost would be “determined by how quickly the economy recovers and how quickly housing prices stabilize.”

Democratic lawmakers said Sunday that they shared the sense of urgency, though they called for “reciprocity” to ensure that not only Wall Street investors but also Main Street taxpayers would get relief. And they said they wanted to press ahead, probably in a parallel initiative, with a new economic stimulus package.

Senator Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said legislators would not imperil the proposal by adding too many extras. “We will not Christmas-tree this bill,” he said Sunday on Fox. “The times are too urgent...”


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/business/22talkshow.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin