Bouncing the Blank Check

Democrats Reject $700 Billion Blank Check
Carolyn Lochhead, The San Francisco Chronicle: "Congressional Democrats worked Monday to reshape the lame-duck Bush administration's jaw-dropping request for an additional $700 billion and unprecedented authority to buy distressed assets to prevent a financial meltdown, amid a sense of deja vu on Capitol Hill over a similarly open-ended war resolution that Congress gave the administration six years ago."