Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:52pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee said the $700 billion U.S. officials want for a financial services bailout would be doled out over time rather than granted all at once.
Rep. Barney Frank, interviewed on CNBC television, indicated a deal on legislation to authorize the fund was near. It would include curbs on compensation for executives whose companies are able to sell bad assets to the government.
"There will be some phasing in of the $700 billion, there will be some equity protection ... for the taxpayers, there will be restrictions on CEO compensation for those companies that participate, there will be very strong oversight, there will be strong efforts to reduce mortgage foreclosures," the Massachusetts Democrat said.
"No golden parachutes," he said. "A restriction on the situation where if the CEO takes a risk and it pays off he gets a lot of money but if it goes bust he doesn't lose any money."
"That's not just a matter of dollars, that's giving a perverse incentive, it's encouraging more risk than should be taken rationally," Frank said.
Whether bankruptcy laws might be altered to stem foreclosures was still under discussion, he added.
"The House Democrats and the Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans came to agreement on all but one issue, the question about whether bankruptcy laws should be able to be applied to primary residences," he said.
Frank was speaking about a bipartisan consensus he and other lawmakers said emerged after a morning meeting between members of both the House and Senate from both parties.
He said he was dismayed, however, that the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, raised "new issues" after emerging from that meeting.
"The House Republicans were represented by the ranking member, Mr. Bachus," Frank said. "He did participate in the conversations and voiced some opinions but then said he couldn't speak for his caucus. To my dismay and disappointment, subsequently, after he left the meeting, he raised a couple of new issues."
In a statement, Bachus said he "was not authorized by my colleagues to make any agreement on behalf of House Republicans."
"There was progress on many issues, but no agreement other than to continue discussions," he said.
In a separate statement, House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio his party had yet to sign on to the bailout plan. "I am encouraged by the bipartisan program," he said, "House Republicans have not agreed to any plan at this point."
Asked whether there was a deal, Frank told CNBC: "We have much of one."
(Reporting by Glenn Somerville, Tim Ahmann and Tom Ferraro; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Poster Comment:
String it out forever why don't you?