Senate Approves $30 Billion More for Thrift Bailout
The Senate and a House panel have dug deep into the taxpayers’ pocket, approving another $30 billion to bail out the nation’s battered thrift industry.
Senators voted 69-30 Thursday to fund the savings and loan cleanup through the end of September. The House Banking Committee approved a similar bill earlier, sending it to the full House, which is expected to vote on it next week.
When the House acts, the two bills will go before a conference committee so that any differences can be ironed out.
The bailout of scores of failed thrifts--brought down by mismanagement and fraud--is expected to cost $500 billion, including interest.
Original cleanup legislation, passed in August, 1989, approved only $50 billion. That was virtually gone by the end of February, said L. William Seidman, chairman of the Resolution Trust Corp., the agency handling the cleanup.
The House panel has grappled with the funding legislation since last week, when it voted down a bill that would have barred the government from funding the thrift rescue with borrowed money.
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