TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Obama Wants New Stimulus Package

ADVERTISEMENT

The Washington Post

Published: September 20, 2008

MIAMI - As officials in Washington raced to put together a bailout plan for the nation's teetering financial system, Sen. John McCain hammered Sen. Barack Obama as part of the problem while Obama said any rescue should include a new stimulus package for families.

Obama met in Coral Gables with his economic advisers and then strongly endorsed the work of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Obama said he supported giving the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve the authority they need to shore up the system.

But he also renewed his call for Congress to enact a second stimulus package, saying that the current focus on Wall Street should not obscure the pain that working Americans have been feeling all year.

"In the same bipartisan spirit that is being shown with regard to the crisis on Wall Street, I ask Sen. McCain, President Bush, Republicans and Democrats to join me in supporting an emergency economic plan for working families," he said after meeting with his economic advisers.

McCain, campaigning in Wisconsin and Minnesota, did not react specifically to the emerging plan in Washington. Instead, he expanded on his idea for a Treasury entity that would identify and rescue ailing financial institutions before they failed.

But while he, too, said both parties must work together to solve the crisis, he mostly spent the day going after Obama in highly personal terms.

McCain has aired two ads that link Obama to former Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae chief executives Jim Johnson and Franklin D. Raines.

McCain told an audience in Blaine, Minn., that Johnson had walked away from the mortgage giants with $21 million "of your money" in severance pay, while Raines received $25 million.

"Let's tell them to give it back," McCain said, and the crowd obliged, chanting "Give it back. Give it back."

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT