Chao, big labor disagree on bailout package

[Omaha Steve]

http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080924/BUSINESS01/809240327/-1/newsfront

By Allan Drury
The Journal News • September 24, 2008

GREENWICH, Conn. - The Bush administration's $700 billion plan to rescue troubled financial firms has placed the labor secretary in a familiar spot: at odds with big labor.

Secretary Elaine Chao said during an appearance at Greenwich Hospital yesterday that it is important for Congress to pass the bailout package "quickly and cleanly."

"Let me say that obviously our financial system is under tremendous duress and this current proposal hopefully will help to increase confidence and stabilize the financial institutions," Chao, Bush's longest-serving cabinet member, said. "We are increasingly interlocked with the rest of the world economy, so it's important that this package be passed quickly and cleanly."

Asked about the AFL-CIO's position that the package is "imbalanced" and puts working people last, Chao noted that not every troubled business has gotten a bailout.

Lehman Brothers, the giant investment bank, filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history last week after the government decided against providing a lifeline.

She said Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson decided "when the impact began to hit Main Street" that it was important to pass the package now being discussed in Congress.

FULL story at link.

[billyoc]

1. Wow, she's usually so reasonable.

:rofl: