Rep. Dennis Kucinich

Washington, Oct 1, 2008 -

Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, one of the leaders in challenging the Wall Street bailout plan, reacted to the Wall Street bailout legislation that the Senate will consider later today.

 "True American values of fairness, frugality and faith are being sacrificed to greed. The Senate took a dreadful bill that failed on the House floor, made no substantive changes to help homeowners or enact substantive regulatory protections for investors, and instead attached tax provisions that have absolutely nothing to do with the underlying financial crisis. The legislative process is devolving into fraud."

"Among the tax credits are tax credits for banks. Keep in mind the government will have to borrow $700 billion from banks at interest, to give banks a $700 billion bailout, and in return the taxpayers get $700 billion in toxic debt. The Senate "improves" on the bailout by giving banks even more money. It is the height of cynicism to tell homeowners in foreclosure that we are going to help them by giving them a tax break! The problem is that they can't pay the mortgage and their homes are in danger, not that they need foreclosure tax breaks.”

The Senate proposes to make one significant change to the original bailout legislation: implementing a temporary increase in the limit on insured banking deposits by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Kucinich supports such an increase.

Yesterday Kucinich sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, suggesting a change in the legislation that would empower the Treasury to compel mortgage servicers to rework the terms of mortgage loans so homeowners could avoid foreclosure.

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