Chuck Schumer

They wanted to give us $250 billion or $300 billion and leave the new administration a say over the rest. Chuck Schumer didnБЂ™t believe Congress would be willing to give the Bush administration $700 billion. I told him the markets needed to know the money was available, but he didnБЂ™t seem convinced. Treating our back-and-forth like a run-of-the-mill negotiation, he kept saying, БЂњYou probably wonБЂ™t be able to use more than $100 billion.БЂ«I was trying hard to communicate with this group, and they with me, but we couldnБЂ™t seem to break through to one another, and tensions were rising. I asked what would happen if we urgently needed more funds and didnБЂ™t have time to go back to Congress to ask for them. Barney quipped, БЂњThen youБЂ™ll go back to Uncle Ben.БЂ«His one-liner broke the tension and gave us all a much-needed laugh. Then Schumer said: БЂњIf you need more than $350 billion before January 20, youБЂ™ll use the Fed or call us back and ask for more.БЂ«БЂњYouБЂ™re raising a congressional concern, but we need to protect the American people from financial disaster,БЂ«I said ...»