Blog Post

Summary of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 from the House Financial Services Committee:

EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 2008

I. Stabilizing the Economy

Significant bipartisan work has built consensus around dramatic improvements to the original Bush-Paulson plan to stabilize American financial markets--including requiring a plan to ensure the taxpayer is repaid in full.

Today, the House passed the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Tax Act (HR 7060) by a vote of 257-166.

Today, the House passed Alternative Minimum Tax Relief (HR 7005), to provide critical tax relief to 25 million middle-class families by protecting them from the Alternative Minimum Tax.

In his speech tonight, the President presented a long overdue assessment of the state of the economy and the urgent need for legislation to respond to the financial crisis.

I was pleased that the President acknowledged the improvements Congress has made to his original proposal, which was unacceptable.

Today, the House passed the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (HR 6983) by a vote of 376 to 47. The legislation will end discrimination against patients seeking treatment for mental illness.

Credit card debt in the US has reached a record high of nearly $1 trillion, averaging $9,840 per household. With the economy slowing, costs of daily living and unemployment rising, growing numbers of cardholders are unable to keep up with their payments and are being taken advantage of by an industry with few regulations and little oversight.

Speaker Pelosi issued the following statement today as Congress and the White House work to craft legislation to address the crisis in our financial markets: