Economy & Budget

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on Monday swiped at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) over the focus of the upcoming lame-duck session.

Coburn said the Senate should focus on the economy in November instead of Reid's previously-announced attempt to dislodge Coburn's opposition to a large package of bills.

Coburn issued a statement saying Reid wants to consider "a 1,082 page, $3 billion earmark-laden omnibus bill" instead of the economic crisis, singling out provisions in the bill that would shield wilderness from oil and gas exploration in Wyoming, a water project in California intended to protect 500 salmon (at $2 million per, more than each fish's weight in gold, Coburn noted), $5 million for botanical gardens in Hawaii and Florida and $4 million for a project to protect livestock from wolves.

"The majority

Congress, not the the Bush administration, first proposed spending $250 billion to buy stakes in large U.S. banks, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said on MSNBC on Tuesday.

"It's something that I and other members of Congress pushed [Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson] to do, not simply to buy up distressed assets, bad mortgages, but to put money into the banks," Frank said. Paulson received the power to purchase the bad assets in the bailout bill passed by Congress two weeks ago.

Frank said that Paulson is now taking the right step to unfreeze credit.

"He's doing it even more enthusiastically than I had hoped he would: He's going to provide money to the banks, to the big banks," Frank said.

He added that the new coordinated effort among industrial nations should help to stem the economic crisis. European nations, including by Great Britain, have also called for using public money to recapitalize troubled banks.

"You know, a couple of weeks ago, our European allies were, kind of, gloating that America was in trouble," Frank said. "That didn't last very long. They're gloating; suddenly they realized they're in this same situation."

It seems one of Ted Stevens

A small but vocal contingent of protesters camped outside the Capitol Friday to protest the controversial $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill.

One particularly excited man, dressed in a jacket and tie but wearing a pink sign on his back reading "TRAITOR PAULSON," moved toward Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) as the committee chairman approached a crosswalk.

"Waxman! Did you vote nay?" the man asked.

"I voted aye," Waxman said simply.

The protester's walk turned into a quick trot, and Hollywood's Congressman got a little nervous.

Waxman held out his hand and exclaimed, "Get away from me or I'm going to call the police!"

Waxman and the protester exchanged a few words as the lawmaker sought the attention of a nearby Capitol Police officer, who ran a nice screen between Waxman and his assailant, allowing the rattled Democrat to make his way safely across the street.

As Waxman walked away, the protester shouted, "150 pages of pork! 150 pages of pork!"

Waxman didn't look back.

- Jeffrey Young

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) engaged in a long conversation with Code Pink protesters on the government bailout moments after the House approved it.

Schakowsky, who voted for the bill, said, "You're free to protest. We have to govern. This was the best bill we could get."

As Schakowsky talked, protesters cheered as Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y) walked by.

Hinchey, who voted no, smiled as one protester cheered, "Yeah Maurice!"

Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said on Thursday that if the financial bailout bill is passed, it will lead to "the decline of democracy in America."

Jones told The Hill that the measure is a step toward socialization, with "government taking over for private enterprise."

Jones, who voted against the House rescue plan on Monday and will vote against the revised package on Friday, said six out of every seven calls to his office has been against the legislation.

The GOP lawmaker has regularly bucked his party over the last several years, most notably on the Iraq war.

Now Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist and House candidate, is attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over the $700 billion bailout.

A day after House Republican leaders blamed a Pelosi speech for the bailout bill's failure, Sheehan said Pelosi is working "for corporate interests" by backing the plan.

"She put this bill forward and voted against the will of her district," said Sheehan, who is running as an independent for Pelosi's San Francisco seat. "Thankfully my opponent wasn't able to get the votes she needed in her own House to get it to pass. I am heartened that 'We the People' won the first round in the corporate bailout of irresponsible and greedy bankers."

Sheehan, in a press release, also called for a "bottom up" rescue plan that would place a moratorium on foreclosures and include more help for homeowners.

Sheehan, whose son, Casey, was killed in Iraq while serving in the Army, has been critical of Democrats' inability to end the war. She said she's running against Pelosi because she hasn't brought up articles of impeachment against President Bush.

The House Republicans who voted against the $700 billion bailout package are proposing their own changes to the bailout bill.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said she supported the proposal backed by Barack Obama and John McCain to increase the amount in bank accounts that is federally insured. The government insures accounts up to $100,000, while Obama and McCain have called for increasing that limit to $250,000.

Blackburn also called for a suspension of mark-to-market accounting rules that have been blamed for the undervaluing of assets and for a decrease in capital gains taxes.

"There are so many free market-oriented portions of this proposal, of the discussion, that are still there," Blackburn said on CNN Tuesday. "And I think what we saw yesterday was people responded to constituents who were saying let's make certain we put some more free market components. They want to see Wall Street have some skin in the game. They want it to be a workout plan and not a bailout plan. And we're all committed to finding a resolution to this."

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) echoed Blackburn's suggestions and suggested that Congress revisit a House Republican proposal for an insurance system for the bad mortgage assets. Conservatives have preferred an insurance system that relies on private money instead of a bailout in which the government would purchase those assets.

"Those kinds of things are positive principles that could come to the table and, I think, that kind of bill would have a majority of support on the House of Representatives right this second," Price said on MSNBC.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed back against Republican suggestions that she and Democrats are to blame for Monday's failure of the proposed $700 billion economic rescue package in the House.

"Today, when the legislation came to the floor, the Democratic side more than lived up to its side of the bargain," she said, noting that a majority of Democratic House members voted in support of the bill while most Republicans opposed it.

The bill failed 228 to 205.

Pelosi added that she told Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who has lobbied hard for the bill, that it wasn't her side that failed. She said that Democratic members gothis message that the package was needed to stabilize markets and protect taxpayers from a financial collapse.

"Clearly, that message was not -- has not been received yet by the Republican Caucus, but, again, we extend a hand of cooperation to the White House, to the Republicans so that we can get this issue resolved for the benefit of America's working families, to strengthen our economy and therefore strengthen our country," she said.

Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.), one of the lead Republican negotiators for the $700 billion bailout bill, acknowledged that the measure won't help lawmakers politically.

"This is a tough vote," Gregg said on CNBC Monday. "There's no upside to casting this vote politically. People who cast this vote are going to know they did the right thing. They're going to know they backed us away from a precipice."

He said he also understood that some lawmakers are "wrapped around the ideological issue" of spending billions of taxpayer money for Wall Street.

You know, some people are wrapped around the ideological issue, which is a purity position. And, you know, I guess you can understand that.

"But you ought to be realistic, too," he said. "We are facing a calamity of incalculable magnitude. I mean, Alan Greenspan says this is a hundred-year event. Warren Buffet says he's never seen anything like it. And people who know the situation say that this is going to have a devastating effect on just ordinary Americans."

Gregg added: "You know, you can always cast the no vote and hope it passes, and then you get the perfect world, I suppose. But that's not our job. We're supposed to step up when there's a tough issue, make a -- make a tough decision and go forward."