Sunlight on the Financial Crisis Legislation

You know, already, that Treasury Secretary Paulson's proposed Wall Street rescue bill is not quite three pages long. Basically, it gives him carte blanche to hand out over $700 billion of taxpayer money to whoever he may please, and further provides that his beneficence "may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

The leading alternative bill that seems to be emerging from congressional discussions is sponsored by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. The full text of what must be assumed to be an early draft of Dodd's bill is available in pdf format here.

Much more user-friendly versions of both bills can be found on PublicMarkup.org:

Click here for the Paulson/Bush administration bill.

Click here for the Senator Dodd bill.

There, you can read each bill section-by-section and, if you like, add your own thoughts or questions. The new web site, sponsored by the non-partisan Sunlight Foundation, also promises to post "amended and further drafts" as they become discoverable.