McCain has not sponsored a banking bill this Congress

Republican presidential nominee John McCain has not introduced any banking or housing bills in the 110th Congress, while Democratic rival Barack Obama has proposed five.

Both candidates are traveling to Washington on Thursday to meet with President Bush and congressional leaders to build support for a massive rescue plan for the nation’s ailing economy.

{mosads}Neither Sen. McCain (Ariz.) nor Sen. Obama (Ill.) sits on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which is taking the lead in the upper chamber of molding the bailout plan.

McCain is the lead sponsor of 38 pieces of legislation during the 110th Congress, none of which have been referred to the Banking panel, according to a review of Thomas, a congressional website.

Obama has introduced 130 measures during this Congress. Five of Obama’s standalone bills fall within the Banking Committee’s jurisdiction.

Obama’s legislation calls for bolstering housing assistance for veterans, amending the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 to provide shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation, halting mortgage transactions that promote fraud, authorizing local and state governments to crack down on companies that invest in Iran’s energy sector and authorizing a pilot program to prevent at-risk veterans from becoming homeless.

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), Obama’s running mate, has not introduced a standalone bill that has been referred to the Banking Committee.

Obama this summer attracted criticism when he called the Senate Banking Committee “my committee.”

Both presidential candidates have outlined their plans for addressing the nation’s financial crisis.

The McCain and Obama campaigns did not comment for this article.

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Sort of suspended campaign

Despite GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s pledge to suspend his campaign until a resolution to the financial crisis was reached, other members of his campaign seemed to be going about business as usual on Thursday.

To begin with, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) broke from her media-shy ways, taking a couple of questions from reporters upon landing in Philadelphia, where a rally had assembled.

And Robert Gibbs, a senior adviser to Democratic candidate Barack Obama, said at a breakfast Thursday morning that he was on TV with McCain adviser Nicole Wallace, “so if they suspended her, she didn’t get the memo.”

And TalkingPointsMemo.com noted that McCain advisers Nancy Pfotenhauer and Tucker Bounds were both making the cable network rounds.

After speaking to the Clinton Global Initiative Foundation in New York City on Thursday morning, as McCain said he would Wednesday afternoon, the Arizona senator returned to Washington.

Barack Obama’s campaign on Thursday, meanwhile, continued its criticisms of McCain.

– Sam Youngman
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More on the back-and-forth

Robert Gibbs, communications director for Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) presidential campaign, provided more details on the players involved in the back-and-forth between the two candidates that culminated with Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) announcement that he was suspending his campaign, returning to Washington and calling for Friday’s debate to be postponed.

Obama called McCain on Wednesday morning around 8:30, and McCain returned that call at 2:30 p.m., after spending the morning talking with economic advisers, congressional leaders and multimillionaire Lady Lynn DeRothschild, who backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for president.

{mosads}During a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor, Gibbs said that when McCain and Obama did connect, the Arizona Republican reacted favorably to Obama’s suggestion that the two men put out a joint statement. Obama said later that he thought a campaign suspension was something McCain was only “mulling around.”

Obama was asked to have a member of his staff contact McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt to draft the joint statement.

Gibbs said Obama asked campaign manager David Plouffe to contact Schmidt, but it was campaign manager Rick Davis who joined Plouffe in crafting the statement. The statement, released from the Obama campaign, appeared in reporters’ inboxes shortly before President Bush addressed the nation at 9:01 p.m. on Thursday, and it came in two parts.

Gibbs said the first part, which called for a bipartisan effort to find a solution, was the work of Plouffe and Davis. The second part, which outlined what Obama wanted to see in the package, came solely from the Obama camp.

– S.Y.

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Fenty optimistic — no matter who wins

Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty said Thursday that he is optimistic that the D.C. voting rights bill will become law next year — no matter who wins the White House.

{mosads}Asked about Sen. John McCain’s opposition to the legislation, Fenty told The Hill that the Arizona Republican’s resistance is not as strong as President Bush’s. He added that congressional Republicans who favor the bill could convince McCain to change his mind.

“But,” Fenty said with a smile, “McCain’s not going to win.”

— B.C.