House Members Want S&L-Bailout; System Altered Before Funding It
House lawmakers Thursday charged the government with turning the cleanup of the savings and loan crisis into a new financial disaster and vowed to block funding until changes are made.
The opposition virtually ensures that the Resolution Trust Corp. will get no more cash to continue selling and liquidating insolvent thrifts before Congress returns from its spring break April 26.
“We don’t feel like giving the RTC another dime until they change the way they do business. Business as usual is not acceptable,” Rep. Jim Jontz (D-Ind.) said at a news conference to unveil a new bill.
House lawmakers last week soundly rejected a proposal to give the agency another $17 billion to last it through September, bringing total cleanup costs to $105 billion before interest on debt.
Jontz’s measure, one of four pending, has the support of a broad range of community organizations, from farmers and machinist unions to the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities.
The groups demand more taxpayer benefits in return for the huge cleanup costs, estimated at $5,000 per taxpayer. Affordable housing, preserving natural resources and tough punishment for fraudulent thrift executives top their agenda.
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