The public comment period for this legislation has ended.

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

3 section comments

Title I - Troubled Assets Relief Program

Sec. 103. Considerations.

In exercising the authorities granted in this Act, the Secretary shall take into consideration




  1. protecting the interests of taxpayers by maximizing overall returns and minimizing the impact on the national debt;




  2. providing stability and preventing disruption to financial markets in order to limit the impact on the economy and protect American jobs, savings, and retirement security;




  3. the need to help families keep their homes and to stabilize communities;




  4. in determining whether to engage in a direct purchase from an individual financial institution, the long-term viability of the financial institution in determining whether the purchase represents the most efficient use of funds under this Act;




  5. ensuring that all financial institutions are eligible to participate in the program, without discrimination based on size, geography, form of organization, or the size, type, and number of assets eligible for purchase under this Act;




  6. providing financial assistance to financial institutions, including those serving low- and moderate-income populations and other underserved communities, and that have assets less than $1,000,000,000, that were well or adequately capitalized as of June 30, 2008, and that as a result of the devaluation of the preferred government-sponsored enterprises stock will drop one or more capital levels, in a manner sufficient to restore the financial institutions to at least an adequately capitalized level;




  7. the need to ensure stability for United States public instrumentalities, such as counties and cities, that may have suffered significant increased costs or losses in the current market turmoil;




  8. protecting the retirement security of Americans by purchasing troubled assets held by or on behalf of an eligible retirement plan described in clause (iii), (iv), (v), or (vi) of section 402©(8)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, except that such authority shall not extend to any compensation arrangements subject to section 409A of such Code; and




  9. the utility of purchasing other real estate owned and instruments backed by mortgages on multifamily properties.

General Comments on Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Steve LaNasa on September 29, 2008

A full audit should be made of all financial institutions requesting benefits to ensure that they are indeed 'troubled'...many of these institutions are likely to have other liquid assets that they could use to cover their debts. Why should the american people be expected to bail out the real estate divisions of corporations that have plenty of other assets?

Charles Dunaway on September 29, 2008

Since when has any member of the Bush administration taken the interests of taxpayers into account on anything? If the Congress really wanted to make sure the interests of taxpayers and homeowners were protected, they would never leave it to the "consideration" of a Bush appointee. This entire section is nothing more than a cute way for Democrats to claim they looked out for the little guy. It is utterly worthless.