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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.

Read the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (SUBJECT TO FURTHER TECHNICAL REVISIONS) .pdf >>

CRITICAL IMPROVEMENTS TO THE RESCUE PLAN

Today, the House passed the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Tax Act (HR 7060) by a vote of 257-166. The legislation will extend and expand tax incentives for renewable energy, create and retain hundreds of thousands of green jobs, spur American innovation and business investment, cut taxes for millions of Americans, and close loopholes allowing U.S. executives to avoid U.S. taxes by shipping investment overseas.

This legislation is critical for American job creation at a time when the U.S.

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. The bill will provide $62 billion in Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) relief to ease the strain of rising gas and food prices, and is a critical part of our plan to strengthen the American economy.

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.

In Congress, we are committed to passing bipartisan legislation that will stabilize the markets, protect taxpayers, establish tough oversight, and curb excessive CEO compensation. And we will pass it soon.

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. Specifically, the bill prohibits insurers and group health plans from imposing treatment or financial limitations when they offer mental health benefits that are more restrictive from those applied to medical and surgical services.

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. In 2007, credit card issuers imposed $18.1 billion in penalty fees on families carrying credit card balances--up more than 50% since 2003 and accounting for nearly half of the $40.7 billion in credit-card industry profits.

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: