After the $700 billion bailout bill passed, with a 263-171 vote in the House, George W. Bush signed into law the largest financial intervention by the U.S. government since the Great Depression.
Also of note: With his Senate vote in favor of the bill on Wednesday, John McCain went against his campaign promise that, as president, he would veto every bill that contained federal earmark requests. The Washington Post notes that McCain’s vote for the final compromise bill–which contains “$2 million in tax breaks for companies which make wooden arrows for children and millions for the Virgin Islands rum industry, U.S. wool producers and auto racetrack owners”–takes the air out of his hard-line stance against earmarks, and in particular his criticism of Obama, for voting for an earmark-laden bill that promoted alternative sources of energy.
