They just don’t have that much juice. Some parts of this may suit their interests but I don’t recall them asking for this particular type of securities purchase before. Do you know of such a request? Again I do not see a lobby other than a few of the most senior consulting economists.
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WASHINGTON — The $700 billion bailout is uncharted territory not just for Washington lawmakers, but also for lobbyists.
And the window to possibly influence the outcome is short, meaning there is little time to develop coalitions to shape the plan before it is completed.
“This is not following any normal process,” said Ed Yingling, chief executive of the American Bankers Association.
By noon, he and his staff had sent a detailed letter to the Treasury and Federal Reserve outlining eight points of objection. “We told them that they’ve got a real problem,” he said.
Mr. Yingling, in his meetings with federal officials, also conjured up images of runs on banks if Treasury did not change course by the time banks opened their doors on Monday morning. [CA renter’s note: interesting to note that he managed to arrange last-minute meetings with federal officials while the legislators’ constituents were talking to low-level clerks]
He made his case. Treasury did scale back its proposal so that only investors who had already suffered losses in money market mutual funds would be covered, not those who might lose money in the future.
Most financial trade groups are banding together to urge passage of the bill this weekend. But, with so much money on the line, there is also intense jockeying on specific provisions.
The United States Chamber of Commerce is pressing Congress to oppose limitations on executive pay and some mortgage modification provisions, while the A.F.L.-C.I.O. called on its members to lobby for them. Trade groups for home builders, credit unions, auto dealers and even agricultural equipment all had extensive campaigns.
Mr. Yingling directs his campaign with a small army of lobbyists, and also calls on hundreds of community bankers to make the association’s case to their local members of Congress. Lately, he’s been working from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Mr. Yingling does seem to be born for the job. His father was a bank lobbyist and chief of staff of the Senate Banking Committee in the 1950s. As a child, Mr. Yingling remembers visiting his father in the same banking committee room where he now meets with lawmakers. Today, Mr. Yingling lobbies Senator Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, just as his father once lobbied Senator Thomas Dodd, father of the current senator. [CA renter’s note: nothing like “keeping it in the family” and also note the cozy relationship as dad was a bank lobbyist AND then chief of staff of the Senate Banking Committee…no conflict of interest there, nosiree!]
While the association had no hard stand on the merits of the bailout, it did join with other financial institutions on Friday urging its passage. But, for the association, the real lobbying was over a series of issues that it wanted to make sure were included in the final package.
[I suggest reading the entire article.]
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I could go on, but you get the idea…
Taxpayers have EVERY RIGHT to be PISSED AS HELL about this bailout. I’m usually not an angry person, but this entire bailout fiasco has probably taken 20 years off my life. 🙁
