World Report

Government Bailout Yet To Be Finalized

By KHON News


After tough negotiations on the massive $700 billion rescue plan, chairman of the House Financial Services committee Barney Frank says the administration is giving ground.

Frank says it has agreed the government should get shares in the companies it helps rescue.

The administration has also signed onto an emergency board to oversee the program.

And to devise a systematic approach to prevent foreclosures on the bad mortgages it buys.

No deal yet though on requiring those companies to limit their executives' bonuses and pay packages.

“The notion that while they are getting this help from the federal government we can't tell them not to have golden parachutes, not to pay millions to some of the very people who made bad decisions as a retirement gift is unacceptable to us,” said Frank.

Another sticking point - allowing judges to re-write mortgages to lower the monthly payments of bankrupt homeowners.

Despite the revamping, some fiscal conservatives are in all-out revolt - urging their colleagues to reject the plan.

“We should not move in haste. Many of us conservatives are concerned that the cure of massive transfer of money from the treasury to Wall Street could be worse than the disease that we are facing in our financial markets,” said Indiana representative, Mike Pence.

“I stress to my colleagues today this is not a case of partisan politics. Our constituents' 401's are at risk. The nationalization of private asset is inherently un-American,” said Florida representative, Cliff Stearns.

The government's rescue plan is estimated to cost $700 billion.

But when all is said and done, the final price tag could end up as high as one-point-three-trillion dollars.

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