Today in Washington D. C. - Sept 22, 2008

The House and Senate will reconvene today: In the Senate, no votes are scheduled for today. On Tuesday, the Senate will begin consideration of H.R. 6049, the vehicle for the tax extenders compromise. Three amendments will be offered: a substitute amendment from Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) containing energy tax credits, a Reid amendment with an alternative minimum tax (AMT) fix paid for with tax increases, and a Baucus-Grassley amendment with an AMT fix not including tax increases. All three amendments will need 60 votes to be adopted. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) will be allowed a point of order against the Baucus-Grassley amendment, which can be waived with 60 votes. After amendments have been considered and voted on, the Senate will vote on final passage of the bill.

Government Bailout: Administration officials made their case to Congress at the end of last week that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s plan is urgently needed to address the current financial crisis. However, it didn’t take long for Democrats to begin proposing all sorts of add-ons to the legislation to implement the program. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said over the weekend that Congress “must closely scrutinize the proposal to make sure it works” but he also warned, “now is not the time for partisan plans or pet projects. Americans are looking for economic security and want us to stand up for them in a bipartisan way.”

Of course, Democrats just can’t seem to resist the temptation for partisanship. On the Senate floor last week, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) attacked “[e]ight years of deregulatory zeal by the Bush administration” and claimed “an attitude of ‘The market can do no wrong,’ have led us down a short path to economic recession.” But, The New York Sun reports that “Until the current credit crisis, Mr. Schumer had been a leading voice for deregulation: He has championed the repeal of a Great Depression-era law that prohibited commercial banks from underwriting securities; he has written an opinion piece calling for the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to be "re-examined," and he has opposed a bill that sought to reduce taxpayer risk in the event of a housing market slowdown by requiring Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to sell their entire investment portfolios of about $1.5 trillion worth of mortgage assets.” And The Buffalo News notes that Schumer has spent much of his career championing Wall Street, while talking about Main Street. Schumer and other Democrats might want to think a bit more carefully about where they stand before lobbing partisan stones.

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