Maine: Hill

Good morning. I'm on the road much of the day.

The bank bailout continues apace in the UK too, but with a difference; from the Guardian:

The government today confirmed it will take majority control of Lloyds Banking Group, with the taxpayer owning 65% of the voting shares in return for insuring ?260bn of the group's toxic assets.

After days of detailed negotiations the terms of the takeover were announced by the Treasury, with Lloyds making a commitment to lend at least ?28bn over the next few years.

The government is to insure the bank's riskiest loans and in return the taxpayer will up its ownership of the bank from 43% to 65% - rising to 77% when non-voting shares are included.

We'll be live blogging the President's address to the Joint Session of Congress, which begins at 9:01 p.m. tonight. The Hill has this preview.

Good morning.

Two stories in this morning's MST are of special interest, the first on how the stimulus package may help to bring broadband internet access to areas of Maine that do not have it:

The stimulus bill would divide broadband funding between two federal agencies -- $4.7 billion for the National Telecommunication and Information Administration at the Department of Commerce, and $2.5 billion for the Rural Utilities Service program in the Department of Agriculture.

Phillip Lindley, executive director of ConnectME, said it's likely the agriculture program will loan or grant money mostly to private companies, while public groups like ConnectME will seek Commerce Department funding.

With all but seven Dems and zero GOP congressmen, the House has passed the stimulus package (Roll Call 70).

The Hill reports that not all members were happy that they didn't have the promised time to review the Conference Report, and I can't say that I blame them:

A number of House Democrats are displeased about being forced to vote on a $789 billion economic stimulus package after having only half a day to read a bill of more than a thousand pages.

Democratic leaders went ahead and scheduled the Friday afternoon vote after posting the 1,073-page text that morning, even though they pledged to make conference reports available for 48 hours.