Senate attack on bailout lacks explicit threat

[maddezmom]

Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:09pm By Kevin Drawbaugh and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many members of the Senate blasted the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout plan on Tuesday, but no senator has come forward so far with an explicit pledge to kill the $700 billion proposal.

The rules of the Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, give individual lawmakers substantial power to delay or halt legislation, but three Senate aides said there were no clear signs yet of that power being exercised.

As the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on the plan put forward by the Treasury Department, aides said much would depend on Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the committee's top Republican, who was sharply critical at the hearing.

The outlook for Treasury's plan would dim greatly if Shelby were to move to block the bill that is expected to emerge soon from congressional debate over the plan, the aides said.

The Democrat-controlled Congress and the Republican Bush administration are in negotiations over specifics of the bailout bill, with the House aiming to get legislation to a floor vote possibly on Friday.

more:http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE48M9XA20080923?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

[TexasObserver]

1. Where is the senator saying "why should we believe anything you say, Mr. Poulson?"

Where is the senator who will say "why don't you and your top staff resign and let a new team with better ideas look at this problem?"

Where is the senator who will say "the Fed and the Treasury departments dropped the ball, and seem like the last people to be in charge of any bailout"?