NPR 2008-07-23

Congressional budget analysts 1 say a Bush administration plan to rescue mortgage backers, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, could cost the government up to 25 billion dollars. The House may vote on the rescue package as soon as tomorrow. NPR's Brian Naylor has more.

The prediction came from the Congressional Budget Office. CBO director Peter Orszag says there is, in his words, “probably better than a 50 percent chance that the rescue package will not cost the government anything”. That’s because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may not have to make use of the extra line of credit the administration is proposing. But Orszag says that's far from the only scenario 2. He said if housing and financial markets continue to deteriorate 3, there would be an increased probability that the new borrowing authority would have to be used. If so, he says, that could cost taxpayers 4 up to 25 billion dollars. Treasury 5 Secretary Henry Paulson has called on Congress to quickly approve the rescue package, saying that because of their size, Fannie and Freddie's stability are critical to financial market stability. Brian Naylor, NPR News, the Capitol.

Forecasters say a big storm on its way towards Mexico's border with Texas has become a hurricane.The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Dolly strengthened today into a Category One over the Gulf 6 of Mexico and is now located about 165 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas. A hurricane warning is in effect from Brownswille to Corpus Christi in the nearby Mexican coast.

A task force chaired by the Commodity Futures 7 Trading Commission says supply and demand, not speculators, are to blame for the spike 8 in oil prices. NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.

The commission's findings run counter to the claims of some lawmakers and others who blame the huge rise in oil prices on speculators manipulating the market. The task force said “fundamental supply and demand factors provide the best explanation for the recent crude oil price increase”. On Tuesday, oil prices actually tumbled more than three dollars a barrel to settle at just under 128 dollars. It was the fourth decline in the past five sessions. The news that Dolly was unlikely to hit major US oil and gas platforms in the Gulf helped drive the price of crude downward.  Another factor: a stronger US dollar. When the dollar is weak, investors 9 sometimes buy dollar-denominated contracts for crude. With the stronger dollar, there is less incentive 10 for currency-related purchases. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.

Barack Obama's position on withdrawing combat troops from Iraq is drawing fire from his Republican White House opponent. Campaigning in New Hampshire today, John McCain said Obama was wrong to oppose the troop surge and wrong to support a timetable for bringing combat troops home. "He was wrong then, he’s wrong now and he still fails to acknowledge that the surge succeeded." Obama, meanwhile, is now in Jerusalem after touring the war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Stocks finished strong today. The Dow gained 135 points and NASDAQ added 24. This is NPR.

The White House is welcoming a victory for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Singh's government survived a confidence vote in parliament today, keeping a nuclear deal with the US alive. The vote was sparked by opponents of the pact 11. They say it will make India's security and energy policies dependent on the United States. Singh says he will now push ahead with the deal which opens India's civilian 12 reactors 13 to international inspections 14 in exchange for nuclear fuel and technology despite never having signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The pact still needs international approval and the okay from the US Congress.

Actress Estelle Getty has died. Getty was best known for her performance as the feisty Sophia in the long-running sitcom 15 “The Golden Girls”. She died at her home in Los Angeles this morning. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

Unlike Sophia Petrillo, Estelle Getty was not Italian. She was born into Polish Jewish immigrants on New York's Lower East Side. And she was younger than Bea Arthur who played her daughter. "If I had lived with Stan before we got married, I could have spared us both some very painful times and a bitter divorce." "And possibly given birth to reasonably attractive children." Getty was in her 60s when she finally got the big break that had eluded 16 her for decades. She went on to play a succession of other mothers, including Cher's in the movie “Mask” and Sylvester Stallone's in the “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot”. Getty had suffered from advanced dementia. Her son told the Associated Press “she was loved throughout the world in six continents and if they loved sitcoms 17 in Antarctica, she would have been loved on seven continents”. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.