Nine Senate Republicans on Wednesday asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to delay consideration of a sweeping housing rescue package because of the Countrywide Financial controversy, The Hill's Jessica Holzer reports.
The letter cites concern that some of those who helped write the housing bill, including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), received preferential mortgages from Countrywide Financial.
Trying to explain that he was not aware he was receiving a VIP mortgage, Dodd explained Tuesday "I don't even know what the rates are today." Since that time Dodd has come under fire from conservatives for making the statement despite chairing the committee arguably most concerned with interest rates.
The farm bill has completed its long, strange trip into law.
The final touches came Wednesday, when the House and Senate for a second time overrode President Bush's veto of the farm bill.
The House voted 317-109 to override Bush's veto, issued earlier in the day. A few hours later, the Senate followed with a 80-14 vote.
The additional votes were necessary because of a clerical error in the House. When the House and Senate initially approved the bill in May, the official "parchment" copy sent to the White House omitted one of the measure's 15 titles.
As a result, the bill initially vetoed by the president was not the full version of the bill approved by Congress. The error was not discovered until after the House had already voted to override Bush's veto.
President Bush urged Congress Wednesday to lift the offshore drilling ban and allow oil companies to explore for additional oil reserves along the nation's coastline
Bush said Congress has "no excuse" keep the ban and blamed Democrats for rising gas prices.
"I know the Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past," Bush said. "Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions."
"Despite what President Bush, John McCain and their friends in the oil industry claim, we cannot drill our way out of this problem," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) responded.
"The math is simple: America has just three percent of the world
Critics of the Senate's housing bill are wasting no time targeting a special VIP-loan received from Countrywide Financial.
A conservative group called AngryRenter.Com distributed fliers outside Union Station saying that after receiving his special mortgage loan, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is sponsoring a bill that would "bail out" subprime lenders like Countrywide. The flyer asks people to call their respective senators and ask them to oppose the "Dodd-Countrywide Mortgage Bailout."
"And make sure to ask them if they received a 'VIP' loan from Countrywide," said the group that was created by FreedomWorks, which is chaired by former House Republican Leader Dick Armey.
Dodd admitted Tuesday that he and his wife were being treated as VIPs when they refinanced their homes in 2003, but he didn't know he was getting a financial perk from a company whose business dealing his Banking Committee oversees. Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who also denied knowing he was receiving special rates, are participating in a preliminary Ethics Committee investigation into the matter.
The Senate could move as soon as Wednesday to take up a housing bill co-authored by Dodd, which includes an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a $300 billion expansion of the Federal Housing Administration's insurance programs to help homeowners in financial troubles.
After allegations of preferential loans from Countrywide forced one of Barack Obama's VP vetters to step down Wednesday, Portfolio.com is reporting that Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kend Conrad (D-N.D.) also received preferential loans from the lending company.
Countrywide ran a little-known program that "waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people," Portfolio.com reports.
Those prominent people include former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and former U.N. Ambassador and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke.
Conservatives have wasted no time in blasting Dodd and Conrad, as conservative blogs have lit up with allegations of cronyism and corruption. The Corner's Stephen Spruiell alleged a conflict of interest for Dodd, whose housing bill could benefit Countrywide, and Michelle Malkin called for a congressional investigation of the senators' loans.
Senate Republicans successfully batted down a windfall profits tax on oil companies Tuesday.
Democrats failed to end debate with a 51-43 vote on a bill that would have taxed any "unreasonable" profits by the five largest oil companies during a time when prices at the pump hover above the $4-a-gallon mark.
The bill would have also given the federal government more leeway in dealing with oil price speculators who have been blamed by some for the recent surge in oil prices.
After a clerical error has left both Congress and the White House unsure of exactly what farm bill got vetoed, White House spokesman Dana Perino mocked Capitol Hill leaders saying Congress "can even screw up spending the taxpayers' money unwisely."
The error left out Title 3 of the bill when it was sent to White House resulted in President Bush vetoing an incomplete version of the farm bill.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) has said the likely solution is to renumber the approved farm bill and then redo the whole process, with Bush vetoing and then the House and Senate voting to override.
Perino said the error will hopefully give lawmakers time to reconsider "how much they're asking the taxpayers to spend at a time of record farm income."
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
