Yesterday, the House declined to go forward with the $700 billion financial services bailout put together by House and Senate leaders working with the Administration. The vote was 205 in favor and 228 opposed.

This is not the end of the bailout idea. Though it appears to be widely unpopular among the American people, many leaders believe that it is necessary to avert a more serious financial crisis. Expect House and Senate leaders to come back with a revised proposal later this week, later this month, or sometime after the election, when the risk of voter retaliation is lower.

In the short “What Can You Do?” section of the WashingtonWatch.com email newsletter this week (subscribe here), I encouraged people to contact their representatives. I don’t care what people think (though I have my opinions): I just want people to get involved with an issue as important as this.

You still should contact your representative. The issue is going to come up again, and if you want to be heard, you’ll get in touch when the heat is off – like right now.

Call to tell your Member of Congress what you think of the way he or she voted, and that you will be following the issue in the future. (Then do that – here!)

The Capitol switchboard number is 202-225-3121. If you don’t know who your representative is, you can figure that out here. You can also contact him or her by email.

Now, be polite or chances are they will disregard what you have to say. Members of Congress and their staffs work for you, but they’re not all that obedient . . . .

Without further ado, here’s the vote on the bailout legislation. An “aye” vote favored the bailout. A “nay” vote opposed it.

(By the way, it was an amendment to H.R. 3997, the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2007. The old scoring of that bill of under a dollar does not reflect the bailout package.)

[Update: A list of representative who switched their votes is here. A list of all representatives' votes in that second vote is here.]

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Here’s the WashingtonWatch.com email newsletter for the week. Subscribe here.

email newsletter | tell a friend | wiki | about | home | log in Special Report: The Financial Services Bailout With a financial services bailout bill slated for a vote in the House of Representatives as early as the afternoon of Monday, September 29, this special report focuses only on that legislation. A bill has not been introduced, but a copy of the bill language has been posted on the WashingtonWatch.com blog. An estimate produced by WashingtonWatch.com puts the spending in this legislation at about $6,500 per U.S. family, or a little over $2,000 per person. [Please forward this email to those whom it may interest (and not to those whom it won't).] Troubled Asset Relief Program The central feature of the bill is the creation of a Troubled Asset Relief Program, or “TARP,” in Section 101. The TARP would exist to “purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, troubled assets from any financial institution, on such terms and conditions as are determined by the Secretary . . . .” Rules about the operation of the TARP and oversight of it are found in other sections that follow Section 101. The Secretary of the Treasury would be authorized to spend up to $700 billion on this program. Congressional Controls? While the legislation has a great deal more oversight than earlier proposals, spending would likely reach the full $700 billion permitted in the bill. The major impediment to spending all the money is in Section 115, which is called “Graduated Authorization to Purchase.” It would immediately grant the Treasury Secretary authority to spend $250 billion. At any time, the President could send a certification to Congress and the spending authority would rise $100 billion more. After that certification, the President would have only to submit a plan to spend yet more and the Secretary’s authority would rise to the full $700 billion. Only if Congress introduced and passed legislation to stop further spending would it be capped at $350 billion. Congress would almost certainly not pass such legislation, and even if it did the President could veto it, requiring a nearly-impossible-to-reach supermajority in both houses to stop the spending. What Can You Do? Given the size and importance of this legislation, this is a good time to contact your Member of Congress and express your opinion. The Capitol switchboard number is 202-225-3121. You can expect that there will be many calls to Capitol Hill this week. Be patient with the switchboard operators and with the congressional staff in your representative’s office. Ask that your opinion be shared with your Member of Congress, and tell the person you speak with that you will be watching to see how your representative votes. In early November, of course, you can register your opinion of your representative by voting in the election. Again, be polite at all times. Discourtesy to congressional staff will almost guarantee that your views will not be shared with your Member of Congress. email newsletter | tell a friend | wiki | about | home | privacy | contact | log in WashingtonWatch.com P.O. Box 77576 Washington, D.C. 20013

The text of the bailout legislation is below. This comes from a version posted by the L.A. Times that says “discussion draft,” but it has the same file name as the bill posted on the House Speaker’s Web site, so I believe this is the bill that will be considered in the House tomorrow. [Update: I have now downloaded the bill from the Financial Services Committee Web site and confirmed that this is the same document.]

[I will be cleaning up the text, which is copied from a PDF, and making it more presentable. New and improved versions will appear from time to time in this post. (8:40 pm - line breaks removed)(9:20 pm - centering, bolding, and other styling)(12:30 am - indentation)]

Without further ado, the bill:

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Here’s the text of a summary on the current bailout language. I don’t think a summary/salespiece like this matters much. I’m working on getting the actual text – there are some slow servers in important places – and we’ll look it over ahead of votes on it in the House and Senate.

SUMMARY OF THE “EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 2008″

I. Stabilizing the Economy
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) provides up to $700 billion to the Secretary of the Treasury to buy mortgages and other assets that are clogging the balance sheets of financial institutions and making it difficult for working families, small businesses, and other companies to access credit, which is vital to a strong and stable economy. EESA also establishes a program that would allow companies to insure their troubled assets.

II. Homeownership Preservation
EESA requires the Treasury to modify troubled loans – many the result of predatory lending practices – wherever possible to help American families keep their homes. It also directs other federal agencies to modify loans that they own or control. Finally, it improves the HOPE for Homeowners program by expanding eligibility and increasing the tools available to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help more families keep their homes.

III. Taxpayer Protection
Taxpayers should not be expected to pay for Wall Street’s mistakes. The legislation requires companies that sell some of their bad assets to the government to provide warrants so that taxpayers will benefit from any future growth these companies may experience as a result of participation in this program. The legislation also requires the President to submit legislation that would cover any losses to taxpayers resulting from this program by charging a small, broad-based fee on all financial institutions.

IV. No Windfalls for Executives
Executives who made bad decisions should not be allowed to dump their bad assets on the government, and then walk away with millions of dollars in bonuses. In order to participate in this program, companies will lose certain tax benefits and, in some cases, must limit executive pay. In addition, the bill limits “golden parachutes” and requires that unearned bonuses be returned.

V. Strong Oversight
Rather than giving the Treasury all the funds at once, the legislation gives the Treasury $250 billion immediately, then requires the President to certify that additional funds are needed ($100 billion, then $350 billion subject to Congressional disapproval). The Treasury must report on the use of the funds and the progress in addressing the crisis. EESA also establishes an Oversight Board so that the Treasury cannot act in an arbitrary manner. It also establishes a special inspector general to protect against waste, fraud and abuse.

While a financial bailout proposal is debated among congressional leaders, silly season continues. The House has been passing bills hand over fist. Here are the bills that went to the floor on Friday, including a bill to spend more than $500 per U.S. family. Up later today, the bills that raced through the House Saturday . . .

S. 2982
The Runaway and Homeless Youth Protection Act
Costs $6.64 per family

H.R. 7112
To impose sanctions with respect to Iran, to provide for the divestment of assets in Iran by State and local governments and other entities, and to identify locations of concern with respect to transshipment, reexportation, or diversion of certain sensitive items to Iran

H.R. 7081
To approve the United States-India Agreement for Cooperation on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, and for other purposes

H.R. 7110
Making supplemental appropriations for job creation and preservation, infrastructure investment, and economic and energy assistance for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes
Costs $547.01 per family

S. 1046
The Senior Professional Performance Act of 2007
Costs $0.05 per family

H.R. 4120
The Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act of 2007

S. 2932
The Poison Center Support, Enhancement, and Awareness Act of 2008

S. 1382
The ALS Registry Act
Costs $0.62 per family

H.R. 7060
The Renewable Energy and Job Creation Tax Act of 2008

H.R. 3068
The Federal Protective Service Guard Contracting Reform Act of 2007
Costs: $0.00 per family

H.R. 6045
The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2008

Late Friday, Congress passed H.R. 7110, a bill to make supplemental appropriations for job creation and preservation, infrastructure investment, and economic and energy assistance for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.

The bill costs something over $500 per U.S. family, and it spends money on highway construction, unemployment benefits, Medicaid, and food stamps.

I do believe that this is the first time Congress has passed a supplemental spending bill for a given fiscal year even before that fiscal year has started. Very impressive . . .

Congress has all the planning skills and foresight of a teenager.

Y’know how when mom and dad are coming back from their weekend away, the kid tries to do all the chores for the weekend in the last hour? That’s Congress.

So as we wrap up the current Session, Congress is racing to do all the things it should have done all year long. Members are throwing every pet project they’ve got at the leadership, hoping to get it through before the Congress ends.

Sure, we’ve got spending decisions for fiscal year 2009, and this financial services bailout, but let’s try to get through dozens of other bills at the same time.

Here’s a look at all the bills that were on the House floor just yesterday. Lots of them are simple and straightforward, but nothing kept Congress from addressing them all through the year.

Congress waited until the last minute and most assuredly isn’t showing these bills, or the really big issues before it, the care it should. We citizens haven’t gotten much of a chance to look them over either.

H.R. 3018
The Family Self-Sufficiency Act of 2007

H.R. 3402
The Calling Card Consumer Protection Act

H.R. 3232
The Travel Promotion Act of 2007

H.R. 6950
The Stephanie Tubbs Jones Gift of Life Medal Act of 2008

H.R. 1014
The Heart Disease Education, Analysis Research, and Treatment for Women Act

H.R. 6946
To make a technical correction in the NET 911 Improvement Act of 2008

H.R. 1343
The Health Centers Renewal Act of 2007
Costs $102.88 per family

S. 2932
The Poison Center Support, Enhancement, and Awareness Act of 2008

S. 1810
The Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act
Costs $0.17 per family

S. 1382
The ALS Registry Act
Costs $0.62 per family

H.R. 6568
The Tom Lantos Pulmonary Hypertension Research and Education Act of 2008

H.R. 6901
The Meth Free Families and Communities Act

H.R. 6469
The Organ Transplant Authorization Act of 2008

H.R. 1157
The Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act of 2007

H.R. 758
The Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007
Costs $0.00 per family

H.R. 4544
The Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2007

H.R. 4120
The Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act of 2007

H.R. 6045
The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2008

S. 1046
The Senior Professional Performance Act of 2007
Costs $0.05 per family

S. 928
The Homeowners Protection Act of 2007

A commenter on S. 3001, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009, which passed the House yesterday, pointed out a large discrepancy between the cost figures reported here on WashingtonWatch.com and on a worthy similar site, GovTrack.

The GovTrack page on S. 3001 recites costs of $23 per American. (The commenter actually reported the cost from GovTrack at $230.) Meanwhile, our page was showing costs of nearly $9,000 per U.S. family, or $2,800 per person. That’s quite a discrepancy.

Well, I’ve checked it all out, and believe that the GovTrack estimate is very low because it may only include direct spending, not authorized spending, which is the bulk of it – about $600 billion.

However, in reviewing our numbers, I discovered that we were using total defense spending for our cost estimate, not the amount of spending that the bill would authorize. Spending is already authorized in existing law, and this bill does not affect that, so reporting total spending was an error.

The new cost estimate we’re reporting is a little over $5,600 per family and $1,800 per person. (The specific figure will vary from week to week with changes in interest rates, population, and the coming change in fiscal year.)

That’s a big discrepancy from the earlier numbers, and I apologize for the error in our reporting.

What a shame. A fellow I featured in an early blog post here has passed away.

Tony Sifford was a driver for FedEx Ground out of Hillsville, Virginia, and he was involved in various good causes around trucking (most of which appear to be sponsored by the American Trucking Associations). He worked with ATA to support H.R. 6709, the National Conservation, Environment, and Energy Independence Act.

A commenter tonight on the post featuring Tony noted his recent death in an accident.

It’s an unfortunate tragedy. Condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. We’re all worse off knowing we’ve lost this good man.

CQ Politics reports on a big spending bill heading for the House floor today:

The measure (HR 2638), which would fund the government through March 6, also includes $22.9 billion in emergency spending for disaster relief. . . .

As expected, the legislation includes the text of three security-related spending bills that will cover all of fiscal 2009: Defense; Homeland Security; and Military Construction-VA. None of the 12 annual appropriations bills has been enacted this year.

. . .

Discretionary appropriations for the three security bills totals $600.6 billion, or about 60 percent of the total discretionary spending Democrats proposed for fiscal 2009.

The legislative vehicle is a fiscal 2008 Homeland Security appropriations bill that was passed by both chambers last year but never taken to conference or enacted. Its old text will be replaced by the provisions outlined Tuesday by House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey , D-Wis. The new language will technically be a House amendment to the Senate amendment of the original bill — and not subject to further change on the House floor.

There you have it. At least* $5,800 per U.S. family ($1,800 per person) spent by a bill whose new language hasn’t been published yet, that got no hearings or committee markups, and that will not be subject to amendment on the floor.

Here’s the vote on H.R. 2638, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2008. Click to vote, comment, learn more, or edit the wiki article about the bill. (Mind you, the information currently on that page pertains only to the DHS funding bill for last year. We will update cost figures and summary information as it becomes available.)

(*The figure is our estimate based on the $600.6 billion reported figure, which does not include money for running all the other parts of the government until March, and which excludes “mandatory” spending which, according to a popular fiction in the budgeting world, the government can’t not spend.)