The days of awe

Somewhere in the days between the Jewish holidays of Rush Hashana and Yom Kippur, the Yamim Noraim, the days of awe, the House of Representatives passed one of the most politically divisive bills of the congressional session. The hotly contested and revised bailout bill passed the House 263 to 171.

Congressional Democrats thanked each other and their presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama minutes after the bill was passed. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) said that he hoped the act would restore as much confidence to the market as it did to the body politic. “It is an exclamation mark on a successful Congress,” Clyburn said.

Clyburn and the Democratic leadership, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and the caucus chair Rahm Emmanuel applauded House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) for the work of his committee in revising the bills. The bailout had failed to garner enough votes just four days earlier. Since Monday provisions were added to the House bill to protect homeowners facing foreclosure and protect tax payers’ investment. The bill created a fee for Wall Street to cover government costs if the assets the Treasury plans to purchase do not yield a high return. Additionally tax equity for these returns and the alternative minimum tax.

In a flurry of metaphors House Democrats said that while this bill has stemmed financial panic and restored calm to the markets but that further changes in regulation will be necessary in the next White House and in the new Congress.