The conservative wing of the House does not appear to be dramatically changing their original proposal to address what President Bush has called a looming economic “panic” after their chamber failed to pass a compromise bailout package Monday.
Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R.-Tex.) outlined several scattershot proposals his caucus would likely support in the $700 billion financial bailout in an open letter to his RSC colleagues Wednesday.
In it, Hensarling said “Judging from the number of emails I have received over the last few days, there still seems to be some confusion about whether the RSC needs an alternative.” He said the RSC is sticking to the same comprehensive alternative originally proposed on September 29 and a number of individual RSC members are independently supporting their own add-on options targeted towards specific goals, such as offsetting the spending or insurance reform.
Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.) and John Shadegg (Ariz.) have offered two separate, but similar, bills to establish “guarantee recovery bonds” or “net worth certificates” to protect depositors.
Reps. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) has proposed a number of across-the-board spending cuts to offset bailout spending and Rep. Joe Barton (Tex.) is pushing a plan to permanently expand energy exploration offshore and in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge to increase tax revenue.
“In short, the RSC is proposing a number of alternatives and continues to fight for a legislative package that would solve the credit crisis, protect taxpayers, and not fundamentally alter our nation’s free market system,” Hensarling wrote.