A federal program giving unlimited insurance guarantees to some no- interest bank accounts, enacted at the height of the financial meltdown, will die out at the end of the year following defeat of a Senate plan to extend it. Republican opponents used a procedural vote on the bill’s budgetary impact to effectively kill it.
Non-interest-bearing transaction accounts are used by businesses, local governments, hospitals and farmers who need a safe place to keep money on a short-term basis for such recurring expenses as payrolls. Critics of open-ended government backing of the program say the accounts have also become a haven for the wealthy and a deterrent to people investing in more risky job-creating enterprises.
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