Amit R. Paley of the Washington Post in a November 11 article posted from Washington to the Seattle Times explains:

"The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush $700 billion bailout of the banking industry.  In the midst of this late September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention.

"But corporate lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: administration officials had U.S. banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion.

"The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several days as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill.  When they found out some legislators were furious."