Let's assume for a moment that the bailout doesn't turn out to be cost free. Let's assume instead that months and months from now the government sells these troubled assets at a loss of about $100 billion. Let's further pretend that, at about the same time, President Obama wants Congress to pass sweeping health care reforms which also costs $100 billion. So he does his part, under the terms of the bailout legislation, and unveils a new bill that would tax financial institutions to the tune of the $100 billion their assets had cost the taxpayers. He does this as either as a standalone measure or as a rider to the health care bill itself. Realizing that the Democrats want to pass any number of costly reforms, what's to stop the 41+ Republicans in the Senate from filibustering it and then saying there's no money to pay for Obama's agenda?

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All that President Obama would have to do is discover the joys of budget reconciliation legislation, which by the rules of the Senate is the one bill not subject to filibuster. He would also probably need a compliant Senate Parliamentarian to rule on points of order, but that can be arranged.
A little off topic, but I have been wondering if, in terms of public opinion, this "$700 billion" bailout will actually make future spending more palatable. Most people (myself included) can't completely fathom how much money that is. But now it has become a number that, at least conceivably, we can spend if we want to. So lines like "we can spend $700 billion to bail out Wall Street, but we can't afford (x amount of dollars) to give every single American health insurance" seem to write themselves. That seems like it would be pretty effective to me.
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