“[John McCain] is working the phones trying to find a way forward that would protect the taxpayer. And this deal [by Chris Dodd] that’s on the table now is not a very good deal. 20 percent of the money that should go to retire debt that will be created to solve this problem winds up in the housing organization called ACORN, that is an absolute ill-run enterprise. And I can’t believe we would take money away from debt retirement to put it in a housing program that doesn’t work.”—Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), “On the Record with Greta”, September 25th, 2008.
Senator Lindsey Graham got it right this time. He has alerted the American people to a sinister scheme by Congressional Democrats to use the financial bailout deal as a means to fund organizations like ACORN, La Raza, and other so-called “affordable housing” groups.
So reports ARRA Editor Bill Smith:
“In the ‘agreement in principle,’ there is the effect of a major ‘earmark’ which commits money from future “profits” to be given to nonprofits organizations like ACORN, National Council of La Raza and potentially the National Urban League. This agreement clearly evidences that the Government expects to benefit in the future from the bailout when the values of property rises and mortgages or properties are then sold by the Federal government. The agreement —
“Directs a certain percentage of future profits to the Affordable Housing Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund to meet America’s housing needs.”
“In the proposed bailout agreement, Sen. Christopher Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee and other Democrats desire to pre-direct that future funds (profits) not be returned to the taxpayers via the treasury but that they be used to underwrite potential questionable (maybe even illegal activities) of certain nonprofits which have had a hand in promoting and expanding access to ‘no money down’ loans for minorities, illegal voter registrations and extensive lobbying activities.”
This “deal” is a complete travesty for the American taxpayer. The idea that profits from the Resolution Trust Corporation that is developed to buy up bad and risky debts and securities would then be returned to organizations who lobbied hard for loans for individuals that could not afford to pay them back.
This is the same deal that Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) was out there yesterday touting as the deal of the century. Instead, his press conference was a political stunt to make it appear as if Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) plan to come back to Washington to hammer out a deal was unnecessary, and indeed, poisonous to any bargain that might be reached. However, Senator Graham again exposes this chicanery:
“You know, the whole day has been about blaming Senator McCain. We need to find buy-in. Harry Reid, two days ago, Greta, said there will be no deal without John McCain’s support. If John McCain doesn’t support this, no Democrat will vote for it. Well, the proposal that was being presented was not a very good deal for the taxpayer, so John came back to try to find a way forward. And they spent the whole day telling a falsehood… Any media outlet that reports that there was a deal that a majority of the House and the Senate was ready to sign onto until John McCain came [to Washington]: that’s a complete lie. There has never been a deal. We’re trying to find one. We hope we can, but it takes buy-in by more than five or six senators.”
And now we know, thanks to Senator Graham, that the deal was a sham from the beginning. Good thing Senator McCain did come back to Washington, if this was the only lemon they could come up with.
The truth is, Harry Reid and Chris Dodd just couldn’t resist the temptation to use one of the greatest financial crises in history as an excuse to stuff ACORN’s pockets one more time. It is time to bring an end to this ACORN-inspired housing welfare once and for all.
Cheap credit is how we got into this mess, and now Senator Dodd wants to reward the organizations that lobbied hard for it. That’s just plain wrong.
Kudos to Senator Graham for exposing this egregious theft.
