President George W. Bush on Friday hailed the congressional approval of a historic financial bailout plan, saying he will quickly sign the bill into law.
"A short time ago, the House of Representatives passed a bill that is essential to helping America's economy weather the financial crisis," said Bush at the White House, moments after the bill was approved by the House on a vote of 263-171.
"We have acted boldly to help prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming -- from becoming a crisis in communities across our country," said the president. "We have shown the world that the United States of America will stabilize our financial markets and maintain a leading role in the global economy."
The approval also represented "decisive action to ease the credit crunch that is now threatening our economy," Bush added.
He also noted that he knew some Americans have concerns about the legislation, especially about the government's role and the bill's cost. "As a strong supporter of free enterprise, I believe government intervention should occur only when necessary. In this situation, action is clearly necessary," he stressed.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that the 700 billion dollars bailout plan was "a critical step" in stabilizing markets and restoring credit flows.
"It demonstrates the government's commitment to do what it takes to support and strengthen our economy. The legislation is a critical step toward stabilizing our financial markets and ensuring an uninterrupted flow of credit to households and businesses," said the U.S. central bank chief.
The Fed "will continue to work closely with the Treasury as it undertakes these new initiatives" and would "continue to use all of the powers at our disposal to mitigate credit market disruptions and to foster a strong, vibrant economy," he said.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson also pledged that he will take quick action to get the 700 billion dollar rescue bill up and operating.
"This was obviously a very important vote. It was a vote to protect the American people ... and their jobs," Paulson said.
"We will move rapidly to implement the new authorities, but we will also move methodically," he said.
Under the rescue bill, the federal government will be authorized to purchase these assets from banks and other financial institutions, which is expected to help free them to resume lending to businesses and consumers.
The new version approved by the Congress will raise federal deposit insurance limits to 250,000 dollars from 100,000 dollars per account, as suggested by the two White House hopefuls days ago.
Another big change is the introduction of a 10-year, 150.5 billion package of tax proposals, including measures to ease the bit of the so-called alternative minimum tax and R&D tax credits coveted by high-tech companies and drug makers.
The change in the bill were quantifiable, the initial proposal from the Treasury Department ran three pages, while the latest version exceeds 450.
Source: Xinhua
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