Congress will give it another try.
Negotiators have further revised a $700 billion plan to rescue the country’s financial sector. This time, the bill will be brought before the United States Senate first. The US House rejected a similar plan Monday, on a 205 to 233. The defeat shocked Democratic and Republican Congressional leaders as well as the Bush Administration, which first proposed the plan. It sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average spiraling down, losing a record 777 points.
Senate leaders have scheduled a vote this evening on the new plan. The revised rescue package includes a one-year increase in Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation caps for financial institutions, raising the cap from $100,000 to $250,000. That move is expected to keep bank customers to insure against losses should their bank go under. Numerous business tax breaks that have expired will be extended. Also, the newly revised bill includes a fix to the alternative minimum tax for individual taxpayers.
Senator McCaskill, a Democrat, says she supports the plan, though she doesn’t really like it. In fact, McCaskill says it stinks, but doing nothing would be worse. McCaskill says credit has frozen in America, imperiling the economy. She says she has been hearing from Missouri business owners and bankers who say they cannot access the credit needed to function.
McCaskill says she’s not sure Senate action will spur the House to back the bill. Some Senate leaders have expressed confidence that the changes will attract the needed votes to pass the House.
Download/listen Sen. Claire McCaskill on financial rescue plan (5:20 MP3)