Dodd (and a number of others in Congress) want more oversight, transparency and future audits of the program -- not just letting Department of the Treasury Secretary Henry "Hank" Paulson have his unsupervised way with it. Dodd would like the people (the taxpayers) to get a piece of each company that steps forward for a rescue. He also favors compensation limits for executives of the companies that use the program. [That's a debate that promises some interesting fireworks.] Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic in the 1960's.
Chris Dodd is a major player in the potential $700 billion plan, but he's so far been fairly general in his public statements about the process
Dodd and Co. Still Working on Economy's Bailout
By Jesse A. Hamilton
September 22, 2008 11:12 PM |
It's not easy for either side on Capitol Hill. Democrats aren't comfortable with the idea of shoveling taxpayer money over to failed bankers and investors. Republicans are queasy about government's deep push into the free market. [So, the fact that fists haven't yet flown over the potential $700 billion plan to shore up America's faltering financial sector is probably a good sign.]
And then, of course, you have everybody at the bottom of the Hill, the taxpayers who will have to pony up the unprecedented cash. A pretty uncomfortable position, in its own right.
Sen. Chris Dodd is a major player in this, but he's so far been fairly general in his public statements about the process. He emerged this afternoon briefly to report that he had nothing to report. He pointed out that everybody understood "the gravity of the moment," though he suggested that the very simple Bush administration proposal could use some tweaking. He said everybody and their staffs are working on this until they can put together "something that makes sense."
"We don't have a lot of time," he said. "We recognize that. We want to act, but we want to act responsibly."
What's taking more than 10 minutes and a handshake for this mammoth cash infusion? Dodd and his allies have a number of additions they'd like to make to the plan. Though the senator did say that this plan wouldn't become a Christmas tree on which every lawmaker could hang something, he has a list of ornaments.
Dodd (and a number of others in Congress) want more oversight, transparency and future audits of the program -- not just letting Department of the Treasury Secretary Henry "Hank" Paulson have his unsupervised way with it. Dodd would like the people (the taxpayers) to get a piece of each company that steps forward for a rescue. He also favors compensation limits for executives of the companies that use the program. [That's a debate that promises some interesting fireworks.]
But a major component of Dodd's wish list is more help for homeowners struggling with bad mortgages -- a number of ideas that either expand existing parts of the earlier housing bill or get back to components that were dropped from that bill's early versions.
Rep. Chris Shays, Connecticut's sole Republican in the House, spoke out today, too. He favors solid oversight for the program. And he's also in favor of executive-pay limits. In a statement today, he said, "The bottom line is taxpayer funds should not be used to pay executives. There needs to be accountability for the investment managers and executives who made poor management decisions. ... This package is about protecting taxpayers' retirement funds, pension plans, college savings and other investments by ensuring continued liquidity in the marketplace, not about bailouts for the people who got us into this mess."
Of course, though this process has the heat of genuine fear and most who support action intend to get it done quickly, the negotiations are still in the early stages.
