October 3, 2008


UPDATE: THE GLOBAL CREDIT CRISIS AND THE GLOBAL RESPONSE

US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES THE EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT

In another of what by now has become a series of dramatic Congressional votes, and fewer than five days after its rejection of a similar bill, the US House of Representatives this afternoon passed The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (H.R. 1424), by a vote of 263 to 171. Voting in favor of this legislation were 172 Democrats and 91 Republicans. The Act as approved by the House is identical to the version previously passed by the Senate on Wednesday, October 1. President George Bush has already signed the bill into law.

As discussed in our earlier Alert , the Senate version contained the same provisions establishing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that were considered and rejected by the House on Monday, September 29. In order to obtain the necessary votes, the Senate version also contained over 300 pages of additional provisions. The most important of these are an increase in the amount of FDIC insurance coverage to $250,000 per insured deposit account through 2009, and alternative minimum tax relief that is expected to reduce taxes for an estimated 24 million households by approximately $65 billion. In addition, the legislation provides incentives for the development of alternative energy projects, mandates mental health coverage parity and puts in place natural disaster recovery programs.

On Monday, please expect our summary of the key elements of this legislation.

Please click on these links to read our earlier comments on the
financial crisis:

October 1, 2008

September 29, 2008

September 26, 2008

September 24, 2008

September 22, 2008

September 21, 2008