Senator Charles Schumer asks if Congress could give $150 billion instead.

[Eric J in MN]

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/following-the-bailout-hearing/

Next, Mr. Schumer proposed a staged bailout instead of one big one.

How about doing this in stages, with, say, $150 billion now, and then come back in January and see how we’re doing?, he asked. Mr. Paulson said that he sought full authority up front, even though we are unlikely to spend the full amount by January.

“Could you live with less?” Mr. Schumer asked, specifically accepting a provision like that in the legilsation.

“I think that would be a grave mistake,” Mr. Paulson said. “Give us the tools we need to make this work.”

I'm against the whole idea of the government buying bad investments from investment banks.

But if Congress is going to do this at all, they should give a small amount to Treasury and review how well they spent that before giving more.