Bailout Battle Leans Towards Congressional Dems

"Heckuva Job Hank" Paulson and the White House appear to be facing an uphill battle as several high ranking Democrats stepped up their opposition today to Paulson's $700 billion plan, which called for scant additional oversight added to the financial markets or Paulson himself. In short, they wish to continue down the same unregulated, non-supervised road that they took to drive us into this current mess.Section 8 of the plan reads:

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

House Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank, was one of the first out of the gates, telling ABC's Good Morning America: "I trust Hank Paulson. But I don't trust anybody to have the amount of power he asked for in the bill he sent us." Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd warned that this bill would "turn $700 billion over virtually to one individual."

Barney Frank: 'bad decisions' made


Chris Dodd: "quickly, but carefully"


"The Treasury is not in a take-it-or-leave-it position with Congress," said Robert Shapiro, president of Sonecon and the undersecretary of commerce during the Clinton White House. "The Treasury and Fed's mismanagement over the last two years helped bring up this brink, and they and a president with 30 percent approval are not in a position to dictate terms."

Chris Dodd endorses Obama

Senator seeks party unity.

Senator Chris Dodd, a former rival, superdelegate, and longtime friend of the Clintons, endorsed Barack Obama today. At a Cleveland press conference with Obama, Dodd denied he was implying that Hillary Clinton should drop out, and was merely suggesting that both campaigns watch their tone over the next week leading up to the critical Ohio and Texas contests. Dodd had informed Clinton of his decision last evening, calling it "not a comfortable" discussion.

"It is now the hour to come together," he told reporters in Cleveland. "I believe the hour has come now for us to make that choice - to stand up and say we're going to get behind this candidacy."

"I don't want a campaign that is only divisive here, and there's a danger of it becoming that," he said. "Not because the candidates want that, but too often the advisors the consultants others are seeking for that divisiveness."

Chris Dodd: Today's Hero

From Crooks & Liars:

Chris Dodd thanks the netroots for their support and congratulates his colleagues for their help in the fight against retroactive immunity.

“Today we have scored a victory for American civil liberties and sent a message to President Bush that we will not tolerate his abuse of power and veil of secrecy. The President should not be above the rule of law, nor should the telecom companies who supported his quest to spy on American citizens. I want to thank the thousands of Americans throughout the country that stood with me to get this done for our country.”

The progressive blogs, who played a huge role in lobbying the Senate to support Dodd’s leadership against retroactive immunity, are joining in the celebration now that the FISA bill has been pulled until next year.

In an email, Athenae of First Draft writes, “Seriously, that was some awesome with awesome sauce and a side of pure, crispy win.”

Crooks & Liars has video of Dodd’s closing remarks this evening.

Jason Rosenbaum at The Seminal writes, “This victory means Dodd’s filibuster has weight. It also makes it much more likely that he will win round two as he continues to stand up for the Constitution and against telecom immunity.”

Sam Stein at the Huffington Post sets the early narrative - one which I think accurately describes how events evolved over the course of the last few days - in an article titled “Dodd’s Filibuster Threat Persuades Reid.”[..]

Also, thanks to everyone at FireDogLake for all the help driving activism today.

You can keep giving Chris Dodd the props he’s due at ChrisDodd.com