Questions on bailout continues as Congress seeks answers

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's $700-billion plan to rescue the financial system continued to be strafed from left, right and center today, with critics demanding to know why overburdened taxpayers should bail out the Wall Street firms that created the crisis.

But the storm of indignation leaves unanswered the questions of whether Congress dares to kill or seriously delay the only plan on the table - and, if it did, would an economic debacle ensue?

The administration and congressional leaders are struggling to craft a bailout for the moribund financial system that is politically acceptable as well as capable of succeeding - a plan, in other words, that takes into account both public outrage and economic reality.

Despite the torrent of criticism, much of it from Republicans, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke went to Capitol Hill for a second day today to defend their proposal, arguing that voters would ultimately accept it because nothing less would work.

In testimony before Congress' Joint Economic Committee today, Bernanke defended the $700-billion price tag.

"It's a very big problem and we don't want to undershoot," Bernanke said.

The committee chairman, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), reminded the Fed chairman that the government's plan has been met with "amazement, astonishment and intense anger" by the American public.

"If the administration's plan can't withstand public scrutiny, we can't make the case to the American people," Schumer said.

A day earlier, Paulson and Bernanke spent more than five hours trying to make their case.

"I share the outrage that people have. I think this is embarrassing and . . . there is a lot of blame to go around," Paulson told the Senate Banking Committee. "But what we're focused on right now and what I think your constituents want to hear is, 'Let's fix the problem in the way that is the least damaging to them.' "

Bernanke, rejecting assertions that the plan was tilted to benefit Wall Street, said, "My interest is solely for the strength and the recovery of the U.S. economy. I believe if the credit markets are not functioning that jobs will be lost, the unemployment rate will rise, more houses will be foreclosed upon, GDP will contract, that the economy will just not be able to recover in a normal, healthy way, no matter what other policies are taken."

The financial system is so traumatized, Paulson and Bernanke warned, that it is no longer able perform its most basic function: bringing together buyers and sellers. Only massive intervention in the form of a government program to buy up billions of dollars in loss-ridden mortgage-backed securities can end the paralysis, they said.

Paulson described the plan as akin to a line of credit that the Treasury Department could use to invest in mortgage-related debt. The entire $700 billion would not necessarily be used, he said, and over time the assets would gain value.

"This is not an expenditure. This is an investment," he said. "And as the economy grows, as housing corrects, these assets should appreciate in value. The cost to the taxpayer will be far below what is invested in the assets."

With the clock ticking down on the scheduled congressional adjournment at the end of the week and the election drawing nearer, even many on Capitol Hill quietly agreed that refusing to act was not an option.

"You cannot just sit by and let this thing crash," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who reported that her office had been swamped by 15,000 calls since the crisis began. But she said she was not yet sold on the plan: "How do I know this will work? I don't."

Democratic congressional leaders, who continued their efforts to negotiate a compromise with the administration, admitted privately that they had been thrown off course by the vehemence of the opposition.

By Tuesday night, it was no longer certain that a version of the Paulson-Bernanke plan could win passage, even if it included such sweeteners as more help for homeowners and caps on compensation for executives of companies that take part in the bailout.

The tension was on display at a closed-door meeting at which Vice President Dick Cheney and a fire brigade of other administration officials tried to rally support among House Republicans, including a large number of the GOP rank and file. After the meeting, Rep. Wally Herger (R-Chico) said, "I don't know anyone who's sold on this rescue plan."