Obama: Bailout can be tweaked later
Posted: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 5:38 PM by Carrie Dann
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
LA CROSSE, Wisc. -- As he prepared to head to Washington, DC to vote on a package to rescue the country’s financial system, Obama stressed his promise to review the plan if he becomes president and pledged that taxpayers would never again have to put their money on the line to pay for the irresponsibility of Wall Street executives.
Obama said his chief priority if elected would be protecting tax dollars, and that he would demand a full review of the $700 billion rescue plan to make sure that it is working for taxpayers.
“If you – the American taxpayer – are not getting your money back, then we will change how this program is being managed. If need be, we will send new legislation to Congress to make sure that taxpayers are protected in line with the principles that I have put forward,” he told a crowd of more than 15,000 people huddled on a chilly fall morning in La Crosse, a city near Wisconsin's border with Minnesota.
He repeated his call for what he calls a Financial Stability Fee on the financial services industry to repay Americans in case the rescue plan results in losses.
“As I modernize the financial system to create new rules of the road to prevent another crisis, we will continue this fee to build up a reserve so that if this happens again, it will be the money contributed by banks that’s put at risk,” he said. “Let me be very clear: when I am President, financial institutions will do their part and pay their share, and American taxpayers will never again have to put their money on the line to pay for the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street.”
Obama also spoke about the need to reign in spending in Washington, in part by increasing government efficiency and ending the war in Iraq. He emphasized that an idea he proposed yesterday morning, raising the FDIC cap to $250,000 from $100,000 proposal, was included in the rescue bill and again called on members of both parties to support the legislation “even if it’s not popular” for the good of the country.
