Jeff Young
GT40s Supporter
We're tripping over the word "drafting." What I am saying is that what is now TARP was a creation of the executive branch and the Fed.
What happened was in September of 2008, there were lengthy meetings involving Secretary Paulsen, the Fed, the Bush Administration AND the Obama and McCain campaigns about what to do with the liquidity crunch and the fact major investment houses were days away from insolvency.
Paulsen and the Fed came up with the plan that ultimately became TARP, with (supposedly) the Obama campaign providing more input than either President Bush or Senator McCain. Regardless, TARP came from the Secretary of the Treasury and the Fed. What is in the bill is their plan. This thing was not a creature of Congress other than in the sense Congress of course had to pass it for it to become law.
What happened was in September of 2008, there were lengthy meetings involving Secretary Paulsen, the Fed, the Bush Administration AND the Obama and McCain campaigns about what to do with the liquidity crunch and the fact major investment houses were days away from insolvency.
Paulsen and the Fed came up with the plan that ultimately became TARP, with (supposedly) the Obama campaign providing more input than either President Bush or Senator McCain. Regardless, TARP came from the Secretary of the Treasury and the Fed. What is in the bill is their plan. This thing was not a creature of Congress other than in the sense Congress of course had to pass it for it to become law.
No it isn't
The bill was drafted by Congress, while the idea may have come from Treasury.
This from the Huff Post.
A bi-partisan majority in Congress responded by enacting the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The debate over this issue was heated. On October 3, 2008, when TARP became law, one member of Congress even went so far as to say, "I don't think it is too much of a stretch to say this may be the day America died.
The "bi-partisan" vote was actually Aye 241 democrats 19 republicans. No 166 republicans I guess it would have been seen as bi-partisan if one republican had vote aye.