S.D. senators change stance on bailout money
2:23 PM
Posted: Wednesday, January 14, 2009
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota's U.S. senators have changed course on spending the second half of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry Congress approved last fall.
Democrat Tim Johnson voted against the package and Republican John Thune voted in favor when it passed in October.
President-elect Barack Obama, with the support of President Bush, is seeking access to the remaining $350 billion that was authorized to rescue the nation's financial sector.
Johnson said some of the concerns he had initially about the package have been addressed and he will vote to release the second half of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
"It's a mistake to send a president out there under-supported and there have been many changes in the second round. I think that the limitations on executive compensation and the other issues have been addressed satisfactorily to my thinking," Johnson told reporters Wednesday.
Johnson said he was among Senate Democrats who met with Obama on Tuesday to discuss spending the remaining $350 billion.
"It was friendly and there was no disagreement among many people," Johnson said of the meeting.
Thune says he's leaning toward a no vote unless there's a clear explanation of how the money will be used.
He said he voted for the $700 billion package with the understanding there be accountability and transparency, and that the money be used to avoid collapse of the nation's financial system.
Instead, the Bush administration has directed some of the money to help the auto industry, he said.
"I did not vote for it with an eye toward allowing it to be used to bail out specific industry and different sectors of our economy, and it seems to be that's sort of the direction it's headed," Thune said.
"We haven't had appropriate assurances from the Obama administration that it will not sort of resort to being used as a slush fund to fund all kinds of different initiatives that they might want to pursue."
"That being the case, mark me down right now as very reluctant to support this," Thune said Wednesday.
Democrat Tim Johnson voted against the package and Republican John Thune voted in favor when it passed in October.
President-elect Barack Obama, with the support of President Bush, is seeking access to the remaining $350 billion that was authorized to rescue the nation's financial sector.
Johnson said some of the concerns he had initially about the package have been addressed and he will vote to release the second half of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
"It's a mistake to send a president out there under-supported and there have been many changes in the second round. I think that the limitations on executive compensation and the other issues have been addressed satisfactorily to my thinking," Johnson told reporters Wednesday.
Johnson said he was among Senate Democrats who met with Obama on Tuesday to discuss spending the remaining $350 billion.
"It was friendly and there was no disagreement among many people," Johnson said of the meeting.
Thune says he's leaning toward a no vote unless there's a clear explanation of how the money will be used.
He said he voted for the $700 billion package with the understanding there be accountability and transparency, and that the money be used to avoid collapse of the nation's financial system.
Instead, the Bush administration has directed some of the money to help the auto industry, he said.
"I did not vote for it with an eye toward allowing it to be used to bail out specific industry and different sectors of our economy, and it seems to be that's sort of the direction it's headed," Thune said.
"We haven't had appropriate assurances from the Obama administration that it will not sort of resort to being used as a slush fund to fund all kinds of different initiatives that they might want to pursue."
"That being the case, mark me down right now as very reluctant to support this," Thune said Wednesday.
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