Bush Signs Bank Rescue to End `Threat to Economy'

By Christopher Stern and Laura Litvan

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush signed a $700 billion financial-market rescue plan into law, calling it a ``decisive action to ease the credit crunch that is now threatening our economy.''

The bipartisan legislation was sent yesterday to Bush after it was approved by the House, reversing its Sept. 29 rejection of the measure, which had sent global stock markets plunging. The bill, approved on Oct. 1 by the Senate with $149 billion in tax breaks to attract House votes, authorizes the government to buy troubled assets from financial institutions reeling from record home foreclosures. It also affirms regulators' power to suspend asset-valuing rules that companies blame for fueling the crisis.

``This was a difficult vote for many members of the House and Senate, but voting for it was the right choice for America's economy and for taxpayers like you,'' Bush said in his weekly radio address today. ``I appreciate their efforts to help stop the crisis in our financial markets from spreading to our entire economy.''

The House approved the measure 263-171 yesterday, four days after rejecting an earlier version by 228 to 205. The bill's defeat caused a 778-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, prompting dozens of lawmakers to switch their vote on the package, the government's largest step into the markets since Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

`Stopping the Panic'

``The issue is stopping the panic,'' said Adam Posen, deputy director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. ``The plan's not perfect, but it's certainly better than doing nothing. Now Treasury has to be very aggressive about purchasing a wide range of assets very quickly.''

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5 percent to 10,325.38 in New York on concern the bailout won't be enough to unlock credit markets and prevent a recession. The S&P 500 declined 1.4 percent to 1,099.23 and the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 1.5 percent, to 1,947.39.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, called the package ``critical to stabilizing our economy.''

Passage of the rescue bill drew praise from financial authorities in Asia, where stocks had earlier posted the sharpest weekly drop in 13 months on concern the bailout may fail to stimulate demand for the region's exports.

Asian Praise

China's central bank said it hopes the rescue will enhance cooperation and coordination with the U.S. and among other countries to stabilize global financial markets.

``All countries should take the responsibility to cooperate, as we share the same interest and goal in facing this crisis,'' the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its Web site.

Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa called the package ``very ambitious'' and ``a plus for financial conditions in the U.S. and globally.''

Bush made more than a dozen phone calls to Republican lawmakers to lobby for the bill. The bill was backed by 172 Democrats and 91 Republicans. Over two-thirds of Democrats voted for the measure while fewer than half of Republicans supported it. On Sept. 29, the 140 Democrats voting for the plan were joined by 65 Republicans.

Stock Market Drop

``The stock-market drop on Monday served as a wake-up call to a lot of people,'' said Representative John Yarmuth, a Kentucky Democrat who announced he was switching his vote in favor of the bailout plan.

House leaders had said they wouldn't set a vote on the revised measure unless they were sure it would pass.

A group of Republicans Oct. 2 tried to offer an alternative that would spend only $250 billion until the end of the year.

Representative Spencer Bachus said that out of ``prudence'' Congress should appropriate only the $50 billion a month the Treasury could distribute this year.

The Democratic-controlled Rules Committee rejected the amendment, saying any changes to the measure would require Senate action, delaying the start of the program. The Senate approved the legislation on Oct. 1.

Republican Opposition

Some Republican lawmakers opposed the measure yesterday, defying Bush and the party's congressional leaders.

``If Congress bails out some firms and sectors, how can it say no to others?'' said Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke proposed last month the largest intervention in financial markets since the Great Depression, in a three-page outline.

They said it was needed to prevent the spread of economic turmoil sparked by a record number of home foreclosures. Among the victims were Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which was forced into bankruptcy last month, and Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and American International Group Inc., which were taken over by the government.

Paulson urged Congress to immediately give him almost unchecked legislative authority to take action. Lawmakers responded by demanding increased oversight, more aid to prevent foreclosures and limits on executive compensation at companies that benefit from the program.

Bush endorsed a compromise, saying it was needed to prevent a painful recession.

Local Governments Hit

Credit-market turmoil is hitting local governments. U.S. states and municipalities have managed to sell about $700 million of tax-exempt bonds this week, less than 15 percent of a typical week's new fixed-rate issues.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote Paulson, saying that his and other states may need emergency federal loans to maintain government operations if the credit crunch continues.

``This credit crisis has the power to grind the U.S. economy to a halt,'' Schwarzenegger wrote in a letter e-mailed to Paulson.

Companies lobbied in support of the rescue measure. Automakers said tougher loan standards partly accounted for a 27 percent plunge in U.S. auto sales last month.

The market for commercial paper, short-term borrowing by businesses, suffered the biggest one-week drop on record, the Federal Reserve said Oct. 2. The amount of commercial paper outstanding fell by $94.9 billion, or 5.6 percent, during the week ended Oct. 1.

Helping Main Street

``This is not a bailout for Wall Street anymore,'' Carolyn McCarthy, a New York Democrat who represents suburbs near New York City, said on the House floor yesterday. ``This is about the small stores on Main Street.''

Still, House lawmakers earlier this week rejected the agreement that congressional leaders reached with the administration, with many saying it was too risky and costly.

The Senate then sweetened the package -- and enlarged the legislation to 450 pages -- by linking the rescue plan to a temporary increase in the limit on federal deposit insurance to $250,000 from $100,000.

The Senate also tied the package to a two-year extension of tax breaks that will save individuals and corporations about $149 billion over the next decade, a move popular among House Republicans. The provisions include $17 billion in credits for the development of solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy.

McCain, Obama

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain returned from the presidential campaign trail to vote for the plan in the Senate this week.

Obama said he had talked to several lawmakers in an attempt to generate support for the legislation.

``There were a number of members of Congress who had voted no that I talked to,'' Obama said in Glenside, Pennsylvania.

``And I think more than anything what they wanted was some assurance that this $700 billion was not going to a few banks but that in fact, that it is designed to ensure that the credit markets are working for Main Street.''

McCain, in comments in Flagstaff, Arizona, said the bill ``isn't perfect and it's an outrage that it's even necessary.''

``The action Congress took today is a tourniquet,'' he said. ``Further action is needed and it shouldn't take a crisis to get this country to act.''

The bill also affirms the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's authority to suspend an accounting rule that bankers and other corporate executives say exacerbates their troubles.

The so-called fair-value standard requires companies to review assets and report losses if their values decline. Lawmakers, the American Bankers Association and companies including American International Group Inc. have urged the SEC to suspend or ease the rule, saying it forces firms to report deeper losses than needed on assets such as subprime mortgages.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, applauding enactment of the rescue plan, said the central bank will keep using ``all of the powers at our disposal'' to ease the credit crisis.

To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at litvan@bloomberg.net