The day’s biggest stories…what message is President Bush sending just before the bailout vote in the U.S. Senate? What changes have been made to the bill? Why are all congressional leaders from both parties urging immediate passage of the new plan? We discuss all of these stories during the top news for Wednesday, October 1, 2008.
Why are the vast majority of senators supporting the revised bailout plan? Why are many conservatives demanding that Gwen Ifill of PBS be removed as moderator of Thursday’s vice presidential debate? And why do the latest polls have the Obama campaign smiling? Listen here for all the details.
After a stinging defeat over the $700 billion bailout plan in the House of Representatives on Monday, how confident is the Bush administration that the revised version will pass both chambers? Do the president and his advisers like the changes or just accept them as a necessary addition to gain passage? What is the price of doing nothing? And what is the White House reaction to the public disapproval of a bailout? We ask Keith Hennessey, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council.
Over 90 House Democrats voted against the $700 billion bailout plan that was rejected by the House of Representatives on Monday. Now that the bill is being modified in order to to pacify Republicans, will the number of Democrats voting no increase? What do they like and not like about the contents? We ask Larry Haas, former spokesman for the Clinton White House Budget Office and former Communications Director to then-Vice President Al Gore.
Haas will also explain why he believes Democrats would be better stewards of the economy over the next four years, while also acknowledging Barack Obama will likely raise taxes on more Americans than he claims.
By doing absolutely nothing, Congress failed to extend an offshore drilling moratorium that had been in place for years. So how much energy production could this mean? When will it make an impact on supply and the price of energy? What else is Congress doing or not doing to impact our domestic energy production? We ask Brian Kennedy, Senior Vice President at the Institute for Energy Research.
On Thursday, the Commerce Department announced the economy grew by 1.9 percent in the second quarter of 2008. That means we are not in a recession and have not been in one during this entire economic downturn.
Does this suggest the doom and gloom is overblown? Or do other economic indicators such as inflation and the price of gasoline prove that we are in an economic mess, regardless of what the official numbers suggest?
Read more in the link below and share your thoughts with us!
