From The Indianapolis Star, “House leaders, Bush work to get 12 votes“:

Joe Loughrey, vice chairman of Cummins Inc. and a National Association of Manufacturers board member, was among 14 executives who met with Bush on Thursday.

“We . . . had a very good discussion with him about the financial crisis and how the credit crunch is affecting our suppliers, employees and communities. We emphasized the need to act quickly and committed to urge our representatives to vote for this package, however imperfect, before we run out of time and the average citizen is hurt,” Loughrey said in a statement.

From the Courier-Journal, “Area House members still wary of rescue bill”

WASHINGTON — Rep. Baron Hill said representatives of the National Association of Manufacturers dropped by his office yesterday, trying to persuade him to change his vote on the financial rescue plan.

But when the House takes up the bill today, the Southern Indiana Democrat said he is likely to be where he was when the House rejected it Monday — against it.

“I want to keep an open mind to it,” Hill said yesterday. But “I don’t like what I’m looking at.”

Among the populist rhetorical attacks these days is condemnation of “big corporations,” “Wall Street billionaires” and the like. Don’t bail them out. They deserve what they get, those tycoons.

Spare us, you know? Just spare us.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

For contractor John Horanic, the financial crisis that has slammed Wall Street the past several weeks has hit his corner of Main Street.

Just this week, his contract to expand a medical office building was postponed “indefinitely” because the owner could not obtain financing, said Horanic, who owns J. Michael’s Independent Contracting Co. near Adamsburg, Westmoreland County.

“I would have kept four guys working for three months. It’s been a nightmare for us … the worst it’s been in 17 years,” said Horanic, who has operated the business since 1985.

From the Heritage Foundation, Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D. and Edwin Meese, III, “Action on Financial Rescue Plan Urgently Needed.” Excerpt:

A revised so-called “bailout” package is being readied for a Senate vote and subsequent action in the House. Action on this rescue package is urgently needed. Households across the nation are beginning to see the leading edge of the storm that is already roiling credit markets here and around the world. The sudden and dramatic drop in the value of retirement accounts after the House’s initial refusal to agree to the package was just one symptom of what is to come. Even more important, however, is the continued deterioration of the credit system. Without action, ordinary Americans will face the effects of a dramatic economic contraction, including sharp increases in unemployment.

Yuval Levin, Ethics and Public Policy Center, writing at National Review Online, “Two Weeks in the Sausage Factory“:

The Paulson plan was put on the table on September 20th. If this version of it passes on Friday, that would be 13 days later. That’s less than two weeks to consider, digest, revise, amend, and improve a presidential proposal and enact an astonishingly massive federal response to a largely unexpected enormous financial crisis. Anyone accustomed to seeing Congress in action ought to marvel at the efficiency of it all. It’s ugly, messy, rowdy, and nerve wracking, but this is what the process looks like when you speed up the film, not when everything falls apart. It looks likely that the final product will be significantly better and smarter than the original proposal, and the world has not burned down in the meantime. I think I would have voted against the original bill, but I think I’d vote for the revised one. It’s still awful, but I’m persuaded something of this sort is necessary, and the bill is very much improved—probably about as much as Republicans can reasonably expect when they’re the minority party in both houses.

Dean Barnett, Weekly Standard, “State of Play“:

Here’s what’s been lost in the debate while people on both the right and left have offered ignorant jeremiads about “bailing out Wall Street.” If the economy tilts into a deep recession or even a depression, it’s not the wealthy or even Barack Obama’s cherished middle class who will pay the deepest price. In any such circumstance, it’s the people on the economic margins who get hurt the most. The ones without a nest-egg and without a 401(k) are the ones who have no safety net when they lose their jobs and health insurance. If unemployment goes from 6 percent to 10 percent, it won’t be the investment bankers who start heating their homes at 56 degrees in January. Populist rhetoric is almost always misguided. That has never been more the case than over the past week.

A “Key Vote” letter went to members of the House of Representatives today signed by Executive Vice President Jay Timmons, urging members to support the Senate-passed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act:

Manufacturers depend on the effective functioning of our capital markets. Without access to credit, manufacturers will be limited in their ability to expand their business, make investments, and even carry out day-to-day operations. If the financial crisis means America stops making things, then our country and our economy are in serious trouble. As employers and community members, manufacturers also are concerned about the financial crisis’ impact on our employees and their families, as well as individual investors and pension plans. All of these rely on a secure and stable financial system.

In addition, NAM members believe that pro-competitiveness tax provisions in the Senate-passed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act will help shore up business confidence and promote growth and job creation. In particular, the NAM supports provisions that include:

• A seamless extension of a strengthened R&D credit;
• An extension of deferral of U.S. tax on active business global financing income;
• An extension of the look-through rules for payments between related foreign corporations; and
• Extensions of incentives promoting energy efficiency and the development of renewable and alternative energy sources.

At the same time, manufacturers are disappointed that revenue-raising provisions singling out the oil and gas industry for discriminatory tax treatment were included in the bill. We believe the unintended consequences of these provisions could leave American consumers and manufacturers more reliant on foreign energy sources and result in higher energy prices.

Nevertheless, Congress must take action quickly to restore Americans’ confidence in our financial system and send a positive signal to the world’s financial markets, and we urge you to support the Senate-passed bill.

Key Vote letters are used to determine a member of Congress’ NAM voting record on manufacturing-related issues.

Spotted a line in the AP story, “Furious lobbying for much-maligned bailout bill”

The fierce lobbying came as the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, urged people to remain calm.

“I think overall the banking system remains very sound so that’s why I think it’s so important for everybody to keep their head,” commission Chairman Sheila Bair said.

But the drumbeat of bad news rattled on. A government report said that orders to U.S. factories plunged by the largest amount in nearly two years as the credit strains smashed manufacturers with hurricane-like force.

The drumbeat of hurricane-force news, eh? How smashing. Unfortunately, in this news climate a tropical low can be turned into a Category 5 hurricane far too easily. And from the AP’s description, you’d think this government report was documenting the effects of the September financial storms.

Not so. The Census Bureau report is, “Highlights from the Preliminary Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders.” For August.

Can we agree that, preliminary signs notwithstanding, the real financial meltdown started with Treasury’s announcement on September 6th that it was taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy followed a week later.

So the August drop in factory orders cannot be attributed to the current financial crisis, as one would think from reading the AP account. (And those who follow these reports fully anticipated today’s announcement, since there was a release of preliminary data last week.)

Now it’s just one line and just one story, and maybe we’re overreacting. But these are serious enough times that everyone covering events should prefer caution to hype, double-checking for accuracy along the way.  

With the National Association of Manufacturers’ board of directors in town for the annual meeting, visits to the White House and Capitol Hill have been the order of the day, as manufacturers make the case for House passage of the economic stabilization bill.

Fifteen board members — mostly from small and medium-sized companies — visited this morning with President Bush, highlighting the fact that suppliers and customers have been affected by the tightening of credit. Real anxiety about businesses, jobs and livelihoods is on the rise.

The President summarized the conversation well in a media availability afterward:

Our discussion today centered around credit. I know there’s a lot of discussions in the newspapers and on TV about the credit freeze. Well, let me tell you what this means. It means that if you’re running a small company and you need to make payroll, or you need to make sure you got inventory to be able to sell a product, or you want to expand so you can hire somebody, you need to have credit. You need to be able to have money on a regular basis from your local banker.

And the problem is, because people are worried about their future, they’re worried the government won’t act, credit is frozen. People aren’t lending money from bank to bank or they’re not lending money to our medium- and small-sized businesses.

And that means people’s jobs are in jeopardy. And the bill that’s before the House of Representatives tomorrow is a bill that has got the best chance of providing liquidity, providing credit, providing money so small businesses and medium-sized businesses can function.

(continue reading…)

President Bush gave a statement this morning at the White House:

7:34 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Yesterday, leaders here in Washington reached an extraordinary agreement to deal with an extraordinary problem in our economy. Working closely with my administration, congressional leaders from both parties produced the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act — a bold bill that will help keep the crisis in our financial system from spreading throughout our economy.

This legislation deals with complex issues, and negotiators were asked to address them in a very short period of time. I appreciate the leadership of members on both sides of the aisle, who came together when our nation was counting on them. Negotiations are sometimes difficult, but their hard work and cooperation paid off.

The bipartisan economic rescue plan addresses the root cause of the financial crisis — the assets related to home mortgages that have lost value during the housing decline. Under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, the federal government will be authorized to purchase these assets from banks and other financial institutions, which will help free them to resume lending to businesses and consumers.

(continue reading…)

Materials and text of the bill available at the House Financial Services Committee, which is now functioning after the initial rush of interest paralyzed the website.

Click the following links to view documents:

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Summary of Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Section-by-Section of Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Or continue to the Financial Services Committee’s regular home page….

The same are posted at the House Majority Leader’s site.

The bill starts in the House on Monday.

Also…a letter from OMB Director Jim Nussle to House Republican Leader John Boehner on provisions that still continued to trouble House Republicans.