We’re going to be keeping a very close eye on the negotiations in Congress over this epic bailout proposal, but things are moving very quickly, so we need help from our readers on the Hill. The broad outlines of the deal are starting to emerge, but we want to know the specifics. What’s on the table? Who are the holdouts? On what issues? What is getting added to sweeten the deal? How unified are the caucuses? Those are the kinds of things we want to be able to report to readers, so if you’re on the Hill, drop us a line about what’s happening.
Here’s Rick Davis explaining that he didn’t lobby for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae for $2 million. He only headed up the lobbying organization. He didn’t lobby, just ran the lobbying organization.
This is from the McCain conference call this morning. And following Davis, here’s McCain enforcer Steve Schmidt. He realizes Davis’s answer is laughable. So he doesn’t even try to defend Davis and launches off on the Times (note: audio has had spittle removed for your protection)…
Getting pegged as liars makes Schmidt and Davis really, really mad.
Late Update: For more on why Davis and Schmidt are upset, note the quote from the former Fannie Mae spokesman who notes that Davis “didn’t really do anything” for the money. “The value that he brought to the relationship was the closeness to Senator McCain and the possibility that Senator McCain was going to run for president again.”
Ch-Ching …
TPMCaférs Jared Bernstein, Dean Baker and Dr. C.A. Rotwang weigh in on the bailout. In Bernstein’s words: Take a breath, Congress, and start negotiating a better plan.
Who are the Obama-Biden Democrats that Sarah Palin is referring to in a new fund-raising email claiming they attacked her family? TPM Election Central asked the McCain camp, and they gave us three examples, two of which were Andrew Sullivan and a diary at DailyKos.
Democrats are pushing for oversight and some protection for taxpayers in the bailout bill. You know about that. But now the banks are saying they need more too? Can beggars be choosers? From CNN …
At the same time, financial institutions are weighing in with what they want in the bill. On Sunday, the Financial Services Roundtable – a lobbying group representing the nation’s banks – called on Congress to make the plan “broad enough to include different types of assets.”
The Treasury has amended its original request to give it authority to buy up not just troubled mortgage assets, but troubled assets period.
This comes after the push to bail out foreign banks and bank lobbyists calling regulatory fixes a “deal breaker.”
Is it a “deal”?
McCain camp convenes conference call to demand reporters stop calling them liars.
Late Update: Joe Klein says the tirade is Steve Schmidt’s shark-jumping moment.
Things are very much in flux on the Hill as both parties grapple with this massive bailout proposal. From what we’re hearing, things are in such a preliminary stage that members are still trying to figure out basics like where colleagues stand and what type of legislation the bailout will be packaged as, let alone what it will contain.
TPMmuckraker obtained a copy of the outline of an alternative bailout plan being floated by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) that offers more oversight of the bailout, which isn’t hard to do, since the Administration’s proposal is virtually oversight-free.
Late Update: At least one Republican on the House Financial Services Committee considers the Paulson proposal is a no-go.