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A round of cheers rose from the House floor after the final votes were tabulated. In a sign of lawmakers' ambivalence about the wildly expensive bailout of the country's financial firms, roughly 20 "no" votes were cast during the minute after the "yeas" surpassed 218, the minimum needed to pass. The rush of votes against the bill was an indication that House leaders convinced some lawmakers who didn't like the legislation to hold their votes until it was clear their support wouldn't be needed. The Senate overwhelmingly passed the legislation late Wednesday. Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain both voted for the bill. Lawmakers faced intense constituent pressure to vote against the bill. To win support of reluctant members of Congress, numerous provisions were added as sweeteners, including energy credits, healthcare measures and middle-class tax relief. Also added was taxpayer relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax, which threatened to hit millions of middle- and upper-income Americans. The package also allows the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to raise the $100,000 coverage limit on individual bank accounts to $250,000. Other add-ons include renewable energy tax incentives, such as
credits for wind, geothermal and other power systems, and a measure
that would make changes to the way the Securities and Exchange
Commission sets accounting standards for bank assets. Some measures
even appear to be favors for individual House members, including
federal help for a motor sports facility, Puerto Rico rum exports,
railroad track maintenance and refinery costs. - Ron Orol and Bill McConnell Ron Orol is a Washington-based reporter for The Deal and author of Extreme Value Hedging: How Activist Hedge Fund Managers Are Taking on the World. William McConnell is the Washington bureau chief for The Deal. Categories![]()
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