Bush proposes $700 billion government bailout plan

The Bush administration today proposed "the largest financial bailout in United States history, requesting virtually unfettered sweeping authority for the Treasury to purchase up to $700 billion in mortgage-related assets from financial institutions headquartered in the United States," according to the New York Times.

The proposal, which the Times called "stunning for its stark simplicity," is less than three pages long but would give the administration broad new powers with few restrictions. It would also raise the national debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion.

The administration proposal gives nearly unrestricted power directly to the Secretary of the Treasury, whose decisions would be "non-reviewable" and "may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Congress would have to approve the plan, which allows the Treasury to buy and resell mortgage debt at its discretion. The objective, according to the Times, is "to transfer the bad debts of Wall Street into the obligations of American taxpayers."

But the amount proposed -- $700 billion -- "is roughly what the country has spent in direct costs on the entire Iraq war and more than the Pentagon's total yearly budget appropriation," the Times reported.

Some Democratic congressional leaders have indicated that they would like to see any bailout include a move by the administration to help hundreds of thousands of troubled homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

But in a speech at the White House on Friday, the president said "this is no time for partisanship." He called on leaders in both parties "to move urgently needed legislation as quickly as possible, without adding controversial provisions that could delay action."