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Senate Majority Leader on Economic Woes: 'No One Knows What to Do'
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ShareSeptember 17, 2008 2:03 PM
ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports from Capitol Hill: Don't look for any legislation in the near future to address the financial crisis.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, asked today what new regulatory actions Congress can take, said, bluntly, "No one knows what to do. We are in new territory here. This is a different game. We're not here playing soccer, basketball or football, this is a new game and we're going to have to figure out how to do it."
A Reid spokesman said neither Treasury Secretary Paulson nor Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke offered up any suggestions for new regulatory legislation when they met with Reid in the Capitol building Tuesday night, either.
In the short run, Democrats are trying to push through a second stimulus package with funding for infrastructure improvements, renewable energy tax credits and other things. But all agree it will be up to the next President and Congress to do any re-regulation.
And its important to remember that there is no congressional oversight on the string of bailouts by the Federal Reserve of AIG, the nation's largest insurance company, or the lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Moments after the press conference, on the Senate floor, Reid said he will keep the Senate in pro forma session after the Sept. 30th departure date so that committees can meet and consider the problem.
He praised Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for their work in engineering the bailouts.
But the senate majority leader said, "the good intentions of these two decent men cannot escape the reality that the Bush administration's willful of oversight and zealous embrace of big business is responsible for the crisis we now face."
Reid went through a litany of bankruptcy protection bills aimed at shielding consumers rather than corporations that he said Republicans had blocked. With more protections for consumers and if the Bush administration had more zealously, or at all, policed the markets with the regulatory tools at their disposal, he wondered if the financial crisis would be happening at all.
And he seemed to forget how he voted on a now-controversial bill that largely de-regulated the financial services industry in 1999. It was written by Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, who has since retired and is a McCain economic adviser. And Democrats, including Reid, opposed the bill when it first passed the Senate with 54 votes.
But they voted for an updated version of the bill in December of 1999 and President Clinton signed it. Reid and all but 7 Democrats in office at the time voted for the version of the bill that ultimately became law even though he said he opposed the bill when he spoke on the Senate floor today.
Regardless, Reid said the de-regulation is less important than the current administration not enforcing remaining law.
"The bill said that one holding company could own more than one type of financial services company (e.g., insurance, investment bank, commercial bank). The law did not say that regulators should no longer regulate. The problem is regulators asleep at the switch – they haven’t enforced what’s on the books. That’s McCain’s philosophy, Bush’s philosophy," he said.
But speeches like that one drew the ire of Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader.
"Now more than ever is the time to rise above politics and to work together. our constituents don't want campaign speeches and hyperpartisan accusations. They want security for their homes and for their savings. They want energy security and lower costs for gas and oil, and they want protection from future tax hikes on their income. Government should be focused on bipartisan efforts to address the fundamental problems in the credit markets and must be cautious in putting taxpayer dollars at risk. and we should work together to help all Americans. "
It's worth noting that the things McConnell suggested are inherently partisan. Protection from future tax hikes does not have uniform appeal among Democrats and "lower costs for gas and oil," coming from McConnell, would likely include drilling for oil in Alaska and off-shore.
Not everyone agrees about the cause of the financial turmoil, but on Capitol Hill they are blaming politicians over the businesses that are melting down.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC, an avowed free marketer, said the problems go back to the creation of public-private hybrids like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He said the market is not under-regulated, but over-regulated.
"Many of the problems we're having today, particularly the problems with AIG., the failures on Wall Street, the mortgage industry, actually go back not to greed in the private market but political greed," Demint said.
"The problems that were created when this Congress and this government set up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as government-sponsored enter prices with the implied and now very explicit backing of the American people provided so much cheap credit to the market, securities that were bought and sold by many companies. AIG is in trouble because of these bad mortgages that originated with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. My point is that the problems we're having are caused by the wrong kind of government intervention. this is not a failure of free enterprise. This is a failure of government solutions and the lack of government oversight into enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that were started."
September 17, 2008 in Vote 2008: Democrats, Washington | Permalink | User Comments (195)
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Check out this article at Elsevier ScienceDirect:
"The Moose of the Apocalypse: Andrej Bitov's ‘Čelovek v Pejzaže’"
By: Priscilla Meyer
Abstract
Andrei Bitov's ‘Man in Landscape’ uses two motifs from Revelation to trace the narrator's relationship to his divine origin: reptilian beasts and the interplay of light and dark. The apocalyptic animals, coupled with the hero's passages from light into darkness and from darkness into light, explicate the narrator's pilgrim's progress from spiritual blindness to a life-giving epiphany. The narrator is led through two days of drunken wanderings by a painter who projects his own frailties onto God; he finally recognizes his blasphemy and flees the artist's apartment, later, like John of Patmos, to provide a record of his revelation....
...And there is a MOOSE involved.
========================================================================
Hmmm...might be worth a second look given the "apocalyptic" collapse of our banking system, right after Gov. Palin's arrival on the national scene;-)
Posted by: niccolo m@chiavelli | Sep 17, 2008 2:07:50 PM
"No one knows what to do...."
Isn't that why we elected these idiots??? To FIGURE OUT what to do!!!!
If Reid doesn't know what to do, then what makes him think he knows who to blame???? Like yesterday, when it was entirely McCain and the Republicans fault.
If they don't know what to do to fix it, then how can they know who to blame?
They've been in control for the last two years, are we to understand that they've been CLUELESS the entire time??
Posted by: SandyB | Sep 17, 2008 2:26:04 PM
If congress doesn't know what to do. Why don't we replace them with someone that does. That is the reason we are in the trouble we're in now. No oversight, bedfellows with big business, crime and high places. America is going to the dogs.
Posted by: William | Sep 17, 2008 2:27:19 PM
I'm not sure who is dumber - Dingy Harry or Stretch Pelosi. What a waste of oxygen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Ed Stanowicz | Sep 17, 2008 2:27:23 PM
niccolo: I'll bet that you believe Harry Potter is a real person also. Apacalyptic in fantasy land but a needed correction in the real world.
Posted by: bombem | Sep 17, 2008 2:28:04 PM
Leadership!
Posted by: it's vintage, duh | Sep 17, 2008 2:28:59 PM
niccolo, that has got to be the dumbest thing I've read. Are you seriously equating Palin's arrival on the national level with something that's been going on for years? Please.....
Posted by: Kevin | Sep 17, 2008 2:29:46 PM
After TWO years controlling both houses of Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, "No one knows what to do."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, "We're not to blame."
The Dems know how to hold pointless witch-hunt hearings, but not how to lead.
Posted by: carl | Sep 17, 2008 2:31:27 PM
Don't Do Anything, Senator! You are responsible for this mess and any action by you will only exacerbate the situation!
Posted by: The Dude | Sep 17, 2008 2:32:18 PM
OMG First Polosi, House Majority Leader (D) comes up with the Dems new campaign slogan.."Hey Don't Blame Us," and now Reid, Senate Majority Leader (D) adds to it "No One Know What To Do." I, with some reluctance, lean McCain, but even I am feeling for Obama...Can't you keep your people in line....how do you expect us to have confidence in you as a leader....I am waiting for Obama's to say "Hey, It's Not My Job."
Posted by: checks and balances | Sep 17, 2008 2:32:39 PM
McCain tried to stop the madness of Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac back in 2005 and the Dems stopped it.
Obama gets tons of cash from the assholes who run it so they don't keep an eye on their shenanigans.
Obama as POTUS is a depression in the making.
McCain is a proven leader and will give the confidence and courage to reform the regulation of the housing loan industry.
Obama will do nothing.
Posted by: Tom | Sep 17, 2008 2:33:06 PM
I know what to do. Don't let McPalin near the White house or we are in for the worse..
Posted by: James | Sep 17, 2008 2:33:10 PM
McCAIN SAYS!!
"I know how to fix it. I know how to fix the corruption," he said of the nation's economic problems during an appearance Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show. "I've been fighting it the whole time I've been in Congress."
Ya, sure he has been fighting it all along...
DID HE FORGET HE ONE OF THE DIRTIEST AND CORRUPT SENATORS OF ALL TIME, during the KEATING FIVE scandal in 1989???
Google the KEATING FIVE "My Friends."
Posted by: Davis | Sep 17, 2008 2:34:37 PM
and these are the same people who are running around telling everyone Palin has no experiance in how Washington works
at this point i'd say that her biggiest asset
Posted by: insonh | Sep 17, 2008 2:35:34 PM
Don't forget Presidential candidate Barack Obama, "It's above my pay grade."
Judgment to Lead? NO.
Posted by: carl | Sep 17, 2008 2:36:29 PM
As head of the comerce comitee. McCain took all regulations off.
Posted by: James | Sep 17, 2008 2:36:42 PM
Yes, by all means, let's keep Pelosi, Reid, and the rest of the do-nothing Congress in charge of all of our futures....
"No one knows what to do..."
What a thing for a Senate Majority LEADER to be saying...............
Posted by: SandyB | Sep 17, 2008 2:37:14 PM
Ahhhh.....
Now I know why the Congress has a 9% approval rating.
A 5th grader would know better about what to do than Harry Reid.
We need change in the Congress!!!!!
Posted by: smartsy66 | Sep 17, 2008 2:38:38 PM
"No one knows what to do...." -- Harry 'dingy' Reid,
"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." -- Lord Barack Obama.
Harry said the democrats are clueless. So why isn't the Lord Obama the most merciful messiah helping out here? Surely fixing the economy is a lot easier than healing the planet! Please Lord Obama, please use your godly zap ray power to fix the economy.
Posted by: Norman | Sep 17, 2008 2:38:41 PM
this is entirely the republicans faults,
mccain is for more deregulation no matter what hes saying today he has always been for deregulation (which is what got us in this place)
the bush cheney philosophy has also played a huge roll in how we got here
phil gramm (mccains friend and long time economic advisor) was the one who snuck this deregulation into a bill that allowed thsi sub prime mess.
so yes absolutely this falls ot the administration and what htey have allowed to go on for the last 8 years. We had a surplus and no debt, and now under bush he has bankrupt this country and we are in a free fall.
dont be fooled about that, but no one knows how far this goes... some people said with fannie and freddie that that was the bottom, but as we are seeing, we now have a new bottom
no one can give a definitive answer about what to do, so far it seems like obama has a bigger grasp on the things that we need to do to possibly stop this free fall, and mccain just seems to be going with whatever sounds politically nice but has no real suggestions other then he will clean it up.
Posted by: Bhrandon | Sep 17, 2008 2:42:02 PM
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