Sun, Jul 05 2009
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Published January 12, 2009 11:32 am - President George W. Bush is letting President-elect Barack Obama dictate when to seek access to the remaining $350 billion in financial sector rescue funds and said Monday that his successor had yet to ask for the bailout money. Bush won’t make bailout request without Obama OK WASHINGTON (AP) — President George W. Bush is letting President-elect Barack Obama dictate when to seek access to the remaining $350 billion in financial sector rescue funds and said Monday that his successor had yet to ask for the bailout money. “He hasn’t asked me to make a request yet,” Bush told reporters Monday in what is likely the last press conference of his presidency. “And I don’t intend to make a request unless he specifically asks me to make it.” A request to Congress for the money could still come as early as Monday to permit Obama’s administration to have the ability to use it shortly after taking office. Obama officials had no immediate comment following Bush’s press conference. Bush’s assertion that the decision to tap the money rests with Obama was an acknowledgment of what has been an extraordinary ceding of power to the incoming administration. In fact, when it comes to the economy, Bush in recent weeks has let Obama be the driving force behind most recovery efforts. A vote in Congress is likely soon, possibly this week, several senators predicted after a briefing from Obama economic adviser Larry Summers on the Wall Street bailout, as well as on Obama’s separate plan for roughly $800 billion in spending and tax breaks to spur the economy. “I feel better this morning, and I am told the Obama team will be giving us these specifics” on precisely how the additional money would be disbursed, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Monday, after talks with Summers. Bush would request the additional money for the Troubled Asset Relief Program but the incoming administration would sell the plan by laying out a series of changes in how the program is run. More of the money would go directly to relieve homeowners threatened with foreclosure, Dodd had said Sunday. He said at that time that a fuller accounting of the money already spent is needed as well, Dodd said. “Larry Summers made a very strong argument for why it’s important and critical for the overall recovery,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. “And I think that’s an argument that most senators understand.” Summers sought to win over Senate Democrats even as the GOP leader of the House, John Boehner of Ohio, warned that any effort to release the additional money would be a tough sell. At his press conference, Bush defended the financial industry bailout, a massive government intervention that has drawn criticism from Republicans as intrusion into the financial markets and from Democrats who complain the money has not helped stabilize or reduce mortgage foreclosures. “I readily concede I chunked aside some of my free market principles when I was told by chief economic advisers that the situation we were facing could be worse than the Great Depression,” Bush said. He credited the program for improving the lending landscape. “Credit spreads are beginning to shrink,” he said. “Lending is just beginning to pick up.” A request to Congress would force a vote within days on whether to block the funding, but the deck is stacked in favor of Bush and Obama winning release of the remaining $350 billion. Congress can pass a resolution disapproving the request, but the White House could veto the resolution; then, just one-third of either chamber would be needed to uphold the veto and win release of the money. The idea is to make the money available to the new administration shortly after Obama takes office Jan. 20. The unpopular bailout has featured unconditional infusions of money into financial institutions that have done little to account for it. 
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Inaguration slide show w/ Inauguration Day slide show 
3:59 p.m. Barack Obama’s speech receives good reviews from locals in Capitol
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