Shortly after the U.S. House of Representatives approved the revised US$700 billion bailout package on its second try, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on Friday afternoon.
Earlier Friday, the House voted 263-171 in favour of the package while the Senate voted 74-25 in favour of the bill earlier this week. An older version of the bill was rejected by the House on Monday.
The new revised bailout includes tax incentives for businesses to invest and create jobs, temporarily expands federal insurance for bank and credit union deposits to $250,000 from $100,000, and provides families with relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax, which would otherwise increase taxes for 26 million taxpayers by an average of $2,200.
“The legislation Congress passed today addresses this problem head on by providing a variety of new tools to the government—such as allowing us to purchase some of the troubled assets, and creating a new government insurance program that will guarantee the value of others,” Bush says. “The bill also ensures that these new programs are carried out in a way that protects taxpayers.”