TARP Vote: Obama Wins, Senate Effectively Approves $350 Billion

Six Republicans joined with 45 Democrats and one Joe Lieberman to defeat a resolution that would have blocked the release of $350 billion in financial-industry bailout funds Thursday. The Senate action -- or lack of it -- paves the way for the dispersal of the money regardless of any action taken by the House of Representatives.

The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is structured so that the president has access to the money unless Congress actively prevents its release. Only 42 senators -- seven Democrats, 34 Republicans and one Bernie Sanders -- voted to block the money.

In practical terms, Obama only needed enough votes to sustain a veto of the resolution, which he had promised when he met with Democrats on Tuesday. The vote today frees Obama of the politically costly task of vetoing a disapproval resolution, allowing him to spend that political capital elsewhere.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, voted against the original TARP legislation in October while locked in a tight reelection race. With the election behind her and the next contest not for another six years, Landrieu voted with Obama to release the funds. Landrieu's vote sends a signal that she is likely to vote with Obama often during the first year of his administration, a helpful sign for the incoming president, who needs every Democratic vote from a red state that he can get. Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida also opposed the original TARP plan but voted with Obama this time around.

Obama also won six Republican votes: Sens. Lamar Alexander (TN), Jon Kyl (AZ.), Judd Gregg (NH), Richard Lugar (IN), Olympia Snowe (ME) and George Voinovich (OH).

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted to block the bailout funds, as did seven Democrats: Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Ron Wyden (OR), Ben Nelson (NE), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Maria Cantwell (WA) and Evan Bayh (IN).

In what will likely be their final Senate votes, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton both voted against the resolution and with the president. In his first Senate vote, Roland Burris voted with his leadership, Harry Reid and Dick Durbin, who had just last week been blocking him from taking his seat. Burris, Reid and Durbin chatted amiably on the floor and Durbin even polished Burris' senatorial pin for him.

Comments

[nogimmicks]

That is terrible. There is nothing to smile about or be proud about, Mr Obama. Instead of balancing the budget and letting the banks downsize and spend some of the trillions they made over the last 10 years, we are borrowing from the middle class and our children and adding this to the accounts of the super-rich. So much for the "change", just doing exactly the same what the Republicans were rushing to do during the last months of the Bush presidency.

[gayleg]

Yay! 350B more of our money will be redistributed to the rich! Go Obama!!!

Oh, wait. . .

[Benevolus]

Great, his first action is dumping more debt on future generations. Didn't this guy learn from the fiscal irresponsiblilty of Bush?

[PDXTransplant]

At least Obama has plans for this money unlike the first pile of money that went out with no one monitoring it. Obama has plans to create jobs, repair infrastruture, and bail out home owners. This bailout money is less than what Bush has spent on his war. It's pathetic that all of the things Obama will try and salvage now should have been done YEARS ago.

BTW, who let all the negative NEOCONS in here? They've doubled in size since the election.

[Proletarian101]

This has nothing to do with jobs or infrastructure. It is to be used for structural support of the financial institutions only. I felt the plan to block it without a clearly defined plan for usage would have been a good resolution. There needs to be more accountability as to how this money gets distributed.

[PDXTransplant]

The he|| it doesn't - Bush never had a plan, but Obama does. You watch and see

[sonofdy1]

Like the DNC was going to go agains the ONE!!!

Please.

[KarenT]

No, that's President Barack Hussein Obama, II.

[mitsie]

Get off the Hussein all ready...

[Clavis]

sonofdy1, sounds to me like you're suffering from "Obama Derangement Syndrome"...

[harriscrl3]

I hope they are keeping names of those who didnt vote for this bailout. Because if money is used to stem foreclosures and it works those that didnt vote for it will be in big trouble come election time particularly in states where foreclosures are high.

Carol

[Independent voter]

The senate voting record is published on the senate's web site. For this particular vote, see:

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00005

[CaptainVideo]

Note that Lieberman was one of the good guys in this vote.

Obama was very smart in supporting letting Lieberman keep his coveted committee chairmanship. As a result Lieberman is back with the program.

[simplify]

Americans are living in a fictional world.....we want everything solved nice and rosie overnight. Well welcome to the real world. This is no sitcom.

[odan]

Welcome to the real world. I give the Dems one year if sh*t isn't getting solved dems are going to start taking a beating for it. Fair or not that's the way it is. That's the reality of it.

[LiberalDemIda]

Americans know it takes more than 1 year to fix 8 years worth of FAILURE by Repubs and the Bush regime. The only ones predicting gloom-doom are those who supported these failed policies and are hoping and praying Democratic President Obama and a Democratic Congress will fail, even if it means huge losses for them personally. They're party before country dip$&!ts.

[Benevolus]

Pretty sure the party before country dipshi@s exist in the Democratic Party too. Only people left with brains are Independents.

[CaptainVideo]

The score so far:

Obama 1, Mitch McConnel 0

The Republican leadership's first attempt to engage in politics as usual by engaging in obstructionism has failed. A lot of credit is due to the 6 Republicans who put the welfare of the country above narrow partisan interests.

[jdenham]

Don't count your chickens yet. This bill was structure so badly that only a veto override would have not released the funds. Where did McConnell lose, his bank buddies get the money and he does not take a hit from conservatives for voting with it.

[CaptainVideo]

The Republican leadership is trying to continue politics as usual and engaging in their usual obstructionism. Their first try at this failed.

If the vote had gone against Obama, he would have suffered a serious defeat even before he took office. This would have been like a racehorse stumbiling right out of the gate. This would have damaged him and weakened him significantly, and therefore reduced his ability to get his economic program past the Republican leadership. The fact that Obama twarted the attempt, on the other hand strengthens him.

The Obama administration, unlike the Bush administration will manage the funds so that the public benefits. In order for the economy to be restored to full employment, the financial system has to be restored to financial health. The fundamental problem with the economy is that a badly damaged financial system is strangling the economy. The financial institutions are unwilling to lend because, as Rubini has pointed out, they are insolvent. As a result many sales are not being made because households and firms that are willing and able to make purchases cannot get financing. Until the financial system's health is restored, the economy cannot recover.

[Carolab]

January 15, 2009

Freeze Foreclosures, End Bank Hoarding, Cut Executive Compensation (Brent Budowsky)

http://pundits.thehill.com/2009/01/15/freeze-foreclosures-end-bank-hoarding-cut-executive-compensation/

[frederico]

He gets the other half of the money. Where is the first half Mr. Obama? Are you going to give out MORE bonus money for Wall Street? Are you going to give them MORE money to buy up other banks with? Where has all this money gone?

[Libarchist]

Obama: The People Can't Handle the Truth

[CommonSenseBda]

President Bush gives tax cuts to the wealthy 2% and starts 2 wars - Silence.

President Bush authorizes $10 Billion a month war in Iraq for over 3 years - Silence.

President Bush takes a $50 Million surplus and turns it into a $2 trillion deficit in just over 7 years - Silence.

President Bush's administration watches the American economy begin a downhill slide and only goes to Congress 7 days before they are scheduled to break before the election and announces he needs $700 Billion to fix the economy - Silence.

President Bush's administration gives over $250 Billion to Banks that don't want the money, and won't say exactly what it was used for - Silence.

Barack asks for the balance to save the homeowners and the economy - Screams and shouting about "Transparency, .... Accountabi­lity,.....­. We need to know EXACTLY TO THE PENNY where the money is going. Let's hear it folks ....... PRICELESS.

[PWM]

Well said. The mess we are in is the direct responsiblity of the Republicans. Republicans created this mess they betrayed the country.

[CaptainVideo]

"Where is the first half Mr. Obama?"

You need to ask President Bush and Secretary Paulson about that. It is the current administration that spent it.

But there is every reason to expect that once the Obama administration takes over, they are going to take a close look at what the previous administration has done. And to the degree that existing agreements make it possible, to tighten up on the administration of those funds.

[harriscrl3]

They are apparently confused they dont know who Paulson and their President is and they are naieve enough to think that because they dont know whre the money was that it didnt do any good. The economy is not in a good shape imagine if there was no bailout we would be in double digit unemployment at this point thats what some dont seem to get. The money was not used optimally but the money was NEEDED. Imagine if Citibank and AIG went under how that would have further contract the credit market. But of course they dont think about things like this. My problem with the bailout was the fact that they didnt do a thing to help homeowners which would have put us further than we are and they didnt put restrictions as far as what the money should be used for. But it was necessary. Bush didnt fake AIG and Citibank being on the verge of going under.

Carol

[KarenT]

You might want to ask the current President that question...you know the one that has f*cked up our country for the past 8 years.

[terrierist]

Big corporations will now be getting a very nice return on their investments.... uh, I mean campaign contributions.

[CaptainVideo]

Where is your proof?

[simplify]

Bitter?

[LiberalDemIda]

They already did, bub, back in 2001 under the BUSH administration. Think OECD, and the estimated hundreds of billions of delicious offshore accounts for corporations and the wealthy to hide from the tax man, then the billion-do­llar-a-mon­th cost of Bush's war of choice without raising taxes, Halliburten, then MORE tax cuts for the wealthy, so I'd be real quiet if I were you.

[PWM]

Don't forget about the no-bit contracts given to Hallilburten for Iraq.

[Carolab]

TPM Muckraker has a slightly different roll call:

Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold (WI), Bill Nelson (D-FL)*, Maria Cantwell (WA), Byron Dorgan (ND) and Ron Wyden (OR), in addition to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), stuck to the same anti-bailout stances they took in October.

Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Mary Landrieu (LA), both of whom voted against giving Bush the first half of the financial rescue money, decided to give Obama the money this time. McCaskill had been particularly skeptical of Bailout Part Deux earlier this week.

Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Evan Bayh (D-IN) switched from affirmative votes under Bush to disapproval of the bailout under Obama. Flexing their rebellious muscles as centrists, perhaps?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/senate_shows_obama_the_money.php

*Bill Nelson, versus Ben Nelson of Nebraska

[CaptainVideo]

When conditions have changed, rational people change their positions.

A foolish concern with consistency is the bugaboo of small minds.

[LiberalDemIda]

With Senators like Lincoln and Bayh in the Democratic Party, who needs repubs?

[munki]

Let's keep the tab and going to the right places and NOT... perks

[DontJustFollow]

well that is one heck of a smile and one heck of a signing bonus - it will be interesting to see what he does with it. Even more interesting to see what he does with his next $825 Billion.

I just hope the democratically controlled Senate and the democratically controlled House can do a better job of oversite with this$350 Billion than they did with the first $350 Billion...

Maybe the democrats just think multi hundred Billion dollar bail outs are like pancakes... You always have to throw the first one out.

Three Hundred Fifty BILLION dollars out the window, no one knows where, Dodd and Frank are completely silent and the democrats are upset because the republican minority wanted to wait and get tighter oversite.

wow -

[Carolab]

Nouriel Roubini says the bank system is insolvent and the $850B is not enough, and we are in a "synchronized global recession":

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=999306334&play=1

[shockmagog]

Thanks. Last month I was reading how the value of private and commercial property has been imploding in both hemispheres.

I trust these people know how much of what (and where and when) to throw at this truly monumental crisis, but I don't think anyone knows if it will work, or if any of it will be enough.

I suspect a huge WPA is part of the answer at least in this country.