Congress has passed the $700 billion bailout legislation to shore up the nation’s stressed financial industry.
Friday’s 263-171 vote by the House sent the Senate-passed version to the White House, where President Bush quickly signed it into law. Among many features, the bailout measure would allow the Treasury Department to buy up bad debt from various lending institutions.
Idaho First District Rep. Bill Sali, who voted against the proposal earlier this week when it failed in the House, again voted no.
US Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho) comments
It includes another $120 billion worth of sweeteners designed to win support. Sali says the bailout bill is bloated and fails to address the underlying problems that led to the current financial meltdown.
Sali continues
Washington 5th District Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers also voted no. Idaho’s other House member, Mike Simpson, voted for the measure, calling it a necessary evil in order to stem financial concerns.
In the U.S. Senate this week, Republican Larry Craig voted for the bailout, while Republican Mike Crapo voted against it, saying it didn’t do enough to protect taxpayers. (AP)
The Washington Attorney General’s office has filed suit against the state Republican Party for allegedly violating the state’s campaign finance disclosure law.
The suit stems from a complaint filed with the Public Disclosure Commission that accused the GOP of misusing funds from its exempt account for three mailings in support of its gubernatorial candidate, Dino Rossi.
At its regular meeting last week, the PDC referred the case to the Attorney General’s Office, which, in turn, determined that there was sufficient evidence to file a complaint in King County Superior Court. The AG’s Office is seeking civil penalties and costs of investigation and trial, including reasonable attorney’s fees.
The state Republican Party must respond and file an answer to the complaint within the next 20 days.
A federal judge will get another look at the political parties’ lawsuit against Washington state’s “top two” primary.
Thursday’s order from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sends remaining parts of the parties’ challenge back to U.S. District Court in Seattle. The parties lost several claims earlier this year at the U.S. Supreme Court, but the 9th Circuit says a lower judge can hear more evidence about claims that the primary limits access to the ballot, or infringes on political party trademarks.
State attorneys think the Supreme Court resolved those issues, while the parties disagree.
The first top two primary was held in August.It moves the top two vote-getters to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. (AP)
Idaho Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo were on opposite sides of the outcome as the U. S. Senate Wednesday night passed a version of the $700 billion financial industry bailout.
The Senate easily passed the measure on a 74-25 vote, and leaders in the House say GOP opposition in that chamber that defeated the plan on Monday has lessened.
The rescue package lets the government spend billions of dollars to buy bad mortgage-related securities and other devalued assets held by troubled financial institutions. If successful, advocates say that would allow frozen credit to begin flowing again and prevent a deep recession.
Sen. Craig voted in favor of the measure after the Senate added $110 billion in tax breaks for businesses and the middle class, plus a provision to raise, from $100,000 to $250,000, the cap on federal deposit insurance. As revised by the Senate, the package extends several tax breaks popular with businesses. It would keep the alternative minimum tax from hitting 20 million middle-income Americans and provide $8 billion in tax relief for those hit by natural disasters in the Midwest, Texas and Louisiana.
However, Sen. Crapo voted against the plan, saying he wasn’t convinced that taxpayers were adequately protected.
US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments
Northwest lawmakers were split evenly on the vote, as Craig, Washington Democrat Patty Murray and Oregon Republican Gordon Smith voted yes, while Crapo, Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell, and Oregon Republican Ron Wyden voted no. (AP)
Idaho U.S. Representative Bill Sali says he has no plans to change his mind on a multibillion bailout of the nation’s financial markets.
The Republican congressman voted against the $700 billion proposal earlier this week. Sali says he intends to stick to that position when the House takes up another version of the bill Friday. It includes another $120 billion worth of sweeteners designed to win support.
Sali says the bailout bill is bloated and fails to address the underlying problems that led to the current financial meltdown.
Idaho’s other House member, Republican Mike Simpson, voted for the measure Monday when it was defeated. Simpson spokeswoman Nikki Watts says the congressman is waiting to see final details of the bill before making a decision, but also believes something must be done to address the crisis.
In the U.S. Senate this week, Republican Larry Craig voted for the bailout, while Republican Mike Crapo voted against it, saying it didn’t do enough to protect taxpayers. (AP)
The financial rescue plan approved by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday includes a plan to extend a program that pays rural counties hurt by federal logging cutbacks.
Senators inserted the timber provision as one of several sweeteners to attract more votes for the bailout bill.
Lawmakers have long been seeking a way to renew the timber program, which provides hundreds of millions of dollars to Idaho, Oregon and other states, mostly in the West, that once depended on federal timber sales to pay for schools, libraries and other services in rural areas.
The law, officially titled the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act but commonly known as “Craig-Wyden,” helps pay for schools and services in 700 counties in 39 states.
The program expired Tuesday with the end of the fiscal year. The Senate approved a bill last week that would have renewed it for four years, but the House removed the provision two days later, citing objections from the White House. The Bush administration later issued a statement saying it supports renewal of the timber program, although officials said it should be phased out.
The Senate bill would reauthorize the timber program for four years at a cost of $3.3 billion. (AP)
Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire and Republican challenger Dino Rossi held their third gubernatorial debate in Yakima on Wednesday night, with immigration, energy, and water among the issues.
The flagging economy was the first topic. Washington’s revenue forecast has dropped by $530 million, pushing a projected deficit in the 2009-2011 budget period to about $3.2 billion, and the state jobless rate is at its highest level in nearly four years.
Both candidates agreed that tapping the state’s rainy day fund to patch the projected deficit should be an option left on the table, although Rossi said it would be a last resort.
Gregoire blamed the economic woes on the federal government’s inability to police Wall Street and said she is taking steps to curb spending and improve the state’s situation. Rossi cited what he called Gregoire’s reckless spending as the cause.
In addition to budget cuts, Rossi says the state needs to improve its climate for small businesses.
Neither addressed the issue of raising taxes, which was a central topic in their debate last week.
Two more debates are scheduled before the Nov. 4 election: Oct. 9 in Spokane and October 15 in Seattle. (AP)
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was in Idaho Wednesday with U.S. Senate candidate and Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, meeting with business leaders and raising money from GOP faithful for Risch’s run against Democrat Larry LaRocco.
The pair made campaign visits in Boise, before Risch took a charter aircraft to Idaho Falls for another gathering with Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.
Romney, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Idaho’s largest religion by members, is popular in the state and leads GOP nominee John McCain in fundraising - despite quitting the presidential race in February.
Aides for LaRocco, a former Idaho congressman, stood outside a campaign event at a Boise hotel where they passed out critical press releases accusing Risch of not being able to work cooperatively with Democrats while he was a GOP state senate leader.
Meanwhile, Risch says one of his law-office employees made a simple mistake Wednesday when she answered a phone call from a reporter to his U.S. Senate campaign.
But Idaho Democrats say the incident is an example of Risch improperly blurring his campaign and law office business - in violation of Federal Election Commission rules forbidding corporations from contributing to political candidates.
The Idaho Democratic Party executive director is accusing Risch of using corporate assets to support his federal campaign.
Risch maintains the employee in the law office answered the phone mistakenly only because all campaign workers were outside the office.
The law office and campaign office are in the same building near Boise’s downtown. (AP)
