Posted on 09/20/2008 10:17:51 AM PDT by Fox_Mulder77
LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY
TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS
Section 1. Short Title.
This Act may be cited as ____________________.
Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.
(a) Authority to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.
(b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:
(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;
(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;
(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;
(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and
(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.
Sec. 3. Considerations.
In exercising the authorities granted in this Act, the Secretary shall take into consideration means for--
(1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and
(2) protecting the taxpayer.
Sec. 4. Reports to Congress.
Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act and the considerations required by section 3.
Sec. 5. Rights; Management; Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.
(a) Exercise of Rights.--The Secretary may, at any time, exercise any rights received in connection with mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act.
(b) Management of Mortgage-Related Assets.--The Secretary shall have authority to manage mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act, including revenues and portfolio risks therefrom.
(c) Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.--The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act.
(d) Application of Sunset to Mortgage-Related Assets.--The authority of the Secretary to hold any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act before the termination date in section 9, or to purchase or fund the purchase of a mortgage-related asset under a commitment entered into before the termination date in section 9, is not subject to the provisions of section 9.
Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases.
The Secretarys authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time
Sec. 7. Funding.
For the purpose of the authorities granted in this Act, and for the costs of administering those authorities, the Secretary may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are extended to include actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses. Any funds expended for actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses, shall be deemed appropriated at the time of such expenditure.
Sec. 8. Review.
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.
Sec. 9. Termination of Authority.
The authorities under this Act, with the exception of authorities granted in sections 2(b)(5), 5 and 7, shall terminate two years from the date of enactment of this Act.
Sec. 10. Increase in Statutory Limit on the Public Debt.
Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $11,315,000,000,000.
Sec. 11. Credit Reform.
The costs of purchases of mortgage-related assets made under section 2(a) of this Act shall be determined as provided under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, as applicable.
Sec. 12. Definitions.
For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) Mortgage-Related Assets.--The term mortgage-related assets means residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before September 17, 2008.
(2) Secretary.--The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Treasury.
(3) United States.--The term United States means the States, territories, and possessions of the United States and the District of Columbia.
yea i told them to go to hell and went for a private contract 30-year fixed.
same boat you’re in here.
should have gone for a much nicer house then i have now even though i knew i couldn’t pay for it.
McCain, Obama split on US economy bailout
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/20/2369823.htm
“it is believed that the intention is to find a way of bringing all the bad debts into one organisation, whose task will be to hold them on behalf of the taxpayer until they can be sold off at some point in the distant future.”
I still can’t get over how many Americans are feelin’ fine about all this. It boggles my mind. What’s going to happen when the scotus smacks down all this unconstitutional b.s.?
Not sure I like section 8 at all.
Congress aims to get bailout to Bush by Friday: Senator Schumer
Saturday September 20, 3:59 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer said on Saturday that Congress hopes to pass this week the Bush administration’s $700 billion financial markets rescue plan.
“The aim is to get this on the president’s desk by Friday,” Schumer, the chairman of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, said at a news conference.
Schumer said Congress is working with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on “filling in the blanks” on the proposed legislation. “A number of options are being considered, including some kind of supervisory authority,” he said. http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080920/financial_bailout_timing.html?.v=1
“Fascism, pure and simple. This is not hyperbole. “
Yes it is. Let’s talk about the specifics and cut down on hyperbole here. What’s good and what is bad and if bad what should be done instead?
“
If this passes, I implore everyone to move ALL liquid assets OUT of America.”
Why? The market went up 10% in a mere day and a half on the news of this. Why is this bad for US assets?
Uh, read #8, what this thread is about.
“Whats going to happen when the scotus smacks down all this unconstitutional b.s.?”
And why would they do that? Penn Central, FDIC bailouts, Resolution Trust Corp (S&L bailout), Chrysler bailout...
been there done that. SCOTUS will uphold. “Interstate commerce” and all that is enough of a writ for this.
Sec. 8. Review.then we'll know just how bad that "secret briefing" really was.
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.
Ugh
Something like that, yes.
I wonder if it is too cynical to just fill in the title of the bill as "The Enabling Act."
No over site. just like the DTCC... Freakin great. 0 transparency = 0 confidence
>>been there done that. SCOTUS will uphold<<
See #8, they have NO authority, that is the whole point here!
If I weren’t so sick to my stomache I would be laughing my ass off.
Section 8 HAS to go. There MUST be accountablity.
You reading this powers that be? We the fish are NOT biting on that one.
first if they hear you they turn away....second. we don't have a say...Sorry Charlie ...we fish may not bite, but we get scooped up in the big government net...
Okay, I will speak up on behalf of Section 8.
Maybe it’s too broad, but there has to be some protection for our tax dollars against the ravening horders of plaintiffs trial lawyers who will look at the Treasury intervention in the mortgage securities markets and lick their chops.
Here we have one institution broken by liberal politicians meeting another institution (our court system) broken by liberal judges.
Remember the obscene tobacco cases in which the sleazy plantiffs bar enriched themselves to the tune of billions of $$$ and then poured much of that money into political campaigns to support their ‘Rat political enablers?
When the Treasury (i.e., our tax dollars) intervenes in the mortgage securities market, there will be winners and losers and the last thing I want to see is additional billions of our money walking out the door to sleazy plaintiffs lawyers bringing class action market manipulation suits against the Treasury and being second-guessed by corrupt, dopey liberal judges.
That's been tried before - remember Boumediene v. Bush, where Congress tried to strip jurisdiction from the Court of any habeas review of Guantanamo detainees? The Supreme Court still had jurisdiction.
My suggestion would be to strip jurisdiction from all courts EXCEPT the Supreme Court, and mandate expedited, after-the-fact review.
I have a better idea, tell Congress to stuff the whole thing where the sun don’t shine.
Enough is enough! Let the chips fall where they may. America is strong, and will recover sans the bankster vampires sucking it’s lifeblood.
Not really. That's what caused the Depression.
This is horrible. In fact, 2008 is going to go down as the “annus horribilis” for America.
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