PolitiFact | On ‘bailout’ bill, party leaders’ claims are less than accurate

It’s not every day that we find the leaders of both parties in the Senate staking out opposite stances on an issue yet both ending up largely incorrect. But that’s the case with two items we checked concerning financial services regulation.
The statements — by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — both concern whether a bill now under consideration would encourage or stop "bailouts" of failing financial services firms. The debate is critical because voters hate bailouts. In fact, Republican pollster Frank Luntz advised opponents of regulation that "the single best way to kill any legislation is to link it to the Big Bank Bailout."
Reid, a supporter of the measure, said flatly that the bill "will end taxpayer bailouts." McConnell, by contrast, said that the bill "actually guarantees future bailouts of Wall Street banks" and said that it would be done at taxpayer expense.
We found that the truth resides somewhere between these opposing statements.

PolitiFact | On ‘bailout’ bill, party leaders’ claims are less than accurate