The U.S. House of Representatives is taking another look at a Wall Street bailout plan today after the Senate approved a revised $700 billion plan on Wednesday.
The House rejected a plan on Monday, defying both President George W. Bush and political leaders of both parties. The House is expected to vote on a revised plan on Friday.
By a vote of 74-25, the Senate approved a "sweetened" Emergency Economic Stabilization Act on Wednesday. The revised plan would allow the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) to raise its deposit-insurance cap to $250,000 from $100,000, and it would extend several tax breaks for businesses and require government agencies to modify troubled mortgages.
As senators, Republican presidential nominee John McCain, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden each returned to Washington, D.C., to vote for the revised plan Wednesday.
"With the improvements the Senate has made, I believe members of both parties in the House can support this legislation," Bush said. "The American people expect - and our economy demands - that the House pass this good bill this week and send it to my desk."
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) voted for the revised plan Wednesday, but Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who has a long track record of being a maverick, voted against it.
"I will oppose the Wall Street bailout plan because though well intentioned, and certainly much improved over the administration's original proposal, it remains deeply flawed," Feingold said. "It fails to offset the cost of the plan, leaving taxpayers to bear the burden of serious lapses of judgment by private financial institutions, their regulators, and the enablers in Washington who paved the way for this catastrophe by removing the safeguards that had protected consumers and the economy since the great depression. The bailout legislation also fails to reform the flawed regulatory structure that permitted this crisis to arise in the first place. And it doesn't do enough to address the root cause of the credit market collapse, namely the housing crisis. Taxpayers deserve a plan that puts their concerns ahead of those who got us into this mess."
Various special interests are weighing in on the issue.
Kurt Bauer, president and chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Bankers Association, issued the following statement: "Wisconsin's FDIC-insured depository banks applaud the courage and leadership of Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl for supporting the stabilization package. Since the U.S. House failed to pass a similar package on Monday, the public has come to realize that the costs of not passing this legislation are too high. Every American stands to benefit from the restoration of confidence and stability to U.S. and world financial markets. Wisconsin banks are also pleased by the temporary increase in federal deposit insurance coverage. It will reassure the public that the safest place for their money is in an FDIC-insured depository institution. WBA urges the U.S. House to follow the Senate's lead and pass the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act as soon as possible."

The stock market continued its nosedive today, as more bleak economic data was reported by the federal government.
The U.S. Labor Department reported today that national weekly jobless claims climbed to their highest level since the immediate aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks in 2001. For the week ended Sept. 27, seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose 1,000, to stand at 497,000, the highest since late September 2001.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department reported today that the demand for U.S. factory goods dropped in August by 4 percent, its fastest rate in two years, on much lower orders for metals, machinery and vehicles.
The data and the uncertainty of the Wall Street bailout plan prompted the Dow Jones Industrials Average to plummet by more than 260 points this morning.
Locally, the BizTimes Stock Index fell 2.17 points to 127.63 Wednesday, and local stocks continued to sink in early morning trading today. The largest local decliners this morning were Bucyrus International Inc. (down $4.07 to $37.29), Badger Meter Inc. (down $3.87 to $42.50), Joy Global (down $3.25 to $38.00) and Rockwell Automation Inc. (down $1.76 to $34.94). A handful of local stocks managed to post meager gains this morning, led by Waterstone Financial Inc. (up 60 cents to $10.20).

The Milwaukee Brewers will turn to ace pitcher C.C. Sabathia on three days rest again to stop the bleeding today in the second game of their five-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Today's game in Philadelphia will start at 5 p.m. (Central Time). Major League Baseball also announced that the third game of the series in Milwaukee's Miller Park on Saturday will start at 5:30 p.m. The Phillies won the series opener on Tuesday, 3-1.

Two upcoming public events will focus on the impact of two referenda that voters will consider on Nov. 4.
An advisory referendum will ask voters in Milwaukee County if they would like to raise the county sales tax in exchange for lessening the burden on the county property tax.
The referendum asks: "Shall the State of Wisconsin grant Milwaukee County the authority to provide property tax relief of at least sixty-seven million dollars ($67 million) by levying a one percent county use and sales tax to be used to remove the following three items from the property tax levy: parks, recreation and culture; transit; and emergency medical services (EMS)?"
On Friday, Oct. 3, Milwaukee County Supervisor Patricia Jursik, who supports the referendum, and Supervisor Joseph Rice, who opposes it, will present their viewpoints at the Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W. Vliet St. The debate will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, voters in the City of Milwaukee will be asked Nov. 4 to vote on a binding referendum that would mandate that all private sector employers in the city provide up to nine days of paid sick leave for their employees.
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) will conduct a Blueprint Briefing on the impact of that referendum on Thursday, Oct. 9, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the University Club of Milwaukee. The cost to attend the event is $25 for MMAC members and $45 for prospective members. For additional information, visit www.mmac.org/calendar.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Real Estate Foundation announced that it has selected a site at the northwest corner of East North Avenue and North Cambridge Avenue, proposed by Milwaukee-based Mandel Group Inc., for a new 700-student dormitory.
The site is located on the opposite side of the Milwaukee River from the 475-student RiverView Residence Hall, which UWM opened in January. The site is a brownfield and was formerly the location of a Hometown gas station.
The dorm project will have three buildings with first-floor retail space along North Avenue and green space along the river.
The UWM Real Estate Foundation chose the site from a list of eight proposals that were narrowed down to three finalists. The other two finalists were the Prospect Mall and parking lot site proposed by Boulder Venture at the intersection of Ivanhoe Place and Kenilworth Place and a site proposed by Phelan Development LLC and Towne Investments at 1774 N. Farwell Ave.
Community meetings were held to discuss the proposed sites.
"I was inspired by the turnout at those meetings," said Alderman Nic Kovac. "As a community, we sent a strong message to the developers and to the university that we care about our neighborhoods, our river, our jobs base and our tax base. We made it clear that nothing is going to happen without our knowledge, input and cooperation."
UWM hopes the new dorm will be completed in 2010.

Bernard Howaniec has been appointed the new director of the Wisconsin District of SCORE, "Counselors to America's Small Business."
Howaniec will coordinate with the eight state chapters to manage and elevate SCORE's Wisconsin's small business counseling, workshop and fundraising programs.
SCORE chief executive officer Kenneth Yancey said, "Howaniec's selection as district director will have a very positive impact on the services SCORE provides in Wisconsin … Bernie has shown continued dedication, not only to the mission of SCORE, but also to the health of the Wisconsin business community. His investment in promoting the level of service that SCORE offers to small businesses will be an asset to the area."
Howaniec has been with SCORE since 2004. He started with the Southeast Wisconsin chapter as a volunteer counselor and moved on to become vice chair of the chapter before being named district director.
SCORE's Wisconsin District reaches more than 10,550 Wisconsin entrepreneurs annually through face-to-face and online counseling, and a variety of business workshops. The district's 285 volunteers have an average of 37 years of business knowledge, with a wide range of industry expertise. For more information, visit www.score.org.

The president of Associated Banc-Corp moved from Philadelphia to Milwaukee to take the job last year. So, is she rooting for Phillies or the Brewers? Find out in this week's edition of the BizTimes Bubbler, which also includes a profile of Michael Ball, president of Datastore, and a roundup of people on the move.

Two years after announcing ambitious plans for a 900-home subdivision along Highway 26 in Janesville, Barrington, Ill.-based Kennedy Homes appears to have given up on the project, at least for the time being. Only 12 houses have been built, including four model homes. Three of the model homes will be sold at auction. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

More than 300 members and sponsors of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce had the chance to meet and mingle with Wisconsin's federal delegation at the 18th annual Milwaukee Night in Washington, D.C. View a photographic slideshow of the event in the latest edition of SBT Around Town.

Small Business Times executive editor Steve Jagler warns that there is more economic pain on the way. Read more in today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.