By Rachel Lippmann, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Missouri senator Kit Bond has suggested making the Federal Insurance Deposit Corporation the lead agency to address the nation's economic crisis.
"It's critical that one government agency be selected to lead the clean-up," Bond said in a speech on the Senate floor Monday outlining his proposal. "Management by committee and multiple regulators is a recipe for disaster."
The Republican wants the FDIC to take control of all banks that would require taxpayer money to stay afloat. Executives at the failed banks would be fired, and the FDIC would be in charge of selling off the bad assets to a government entity. It would be very similar to the process the FDIC undertook when it seized California's IndyMac Bank.
Bond said the financial rescue plan proposed by the Obama administration continues a failed system of ad-hoc solutions to the crisis.
"There's no road map, no exit strategy, and by throwing more taxpayer money at the problem we're only digging a deeper hole," he said.
A Bond spokeswoman says the Senator has talked to FDIC officials about the proposal.