U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-OH) and a group of House Republicans will try to amend the bailout bill approved by the Senate to strip egregious pork projects from it and save taxpayers nearly half a trillion dollars.

The group, led by LaTourette, presented the amendment to the House Rules Committee at 4 p.m. today.  It is not known if House Leaders will allow any amendments to the bill.

Other House members supporting the amendment are: Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL), the ranking member of House Financial Services, and Reps. Charles W. Dent (R-PA), Phil English (R-PA), Thad McCotter (R-MI), Mike Turner (R-OH), Tom Latham (R-IA), Fred Upton (R-MI), Judy Bigger (R-IL), Dave Hobson (R-OH) and Pat Tiberi (R-OH).

Several of the members opposed the bailout package in the House on Monday and are being pressured to change their votes so a measure can pass.  They participated in a press conference on Capitol Hill this afternoon to outline their concerns about the Senate bill and offer support for the LaTourette amendment.

The amendment would immediately give Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson $250 billion to buy toxic mortgage assets.  The Administration would be required to report back to Congress by November 17, 2008, on the status of the bailout and then Congress would have up to 15 days to approve additional funding if needed.  All Members return to Washington in mid-November for organizational meetings.

Under the current Senate proposal, Paulson immediately gets $250 billion and then installments of $100 billion and $350 billion.  The last one may be “disapproved” by Congress.  LaTourette said the President could easily veto any bill where Congress disapproves of additional funding for Paulson, and Congress would need 290 votes in the House and 67 votes in the Senate to override the veto.

LaTourette said Paulson has previously acknowledged he can’t spend more than $50 billion in a month, and a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes last week that Treasury came up with the $700 billion figure because they wanted “a really large number.”

“We know people are outraged by the price tag of the bailout or rescue or whatever you want to call it.  We could potentially save $450 billion for the taxpayers,” LaTourette said.  “We know something must be done, but we think it can be done in a better way, and one that protects the taxpayers.  This change doesn’t hamstring the Treasury Secretary at all.”

Bachus, the ranking member on the House Committee on Financial Services, praised the LaTourette amendment.

“This is as close to a reasonable, rational, responsible decision as we’ll ever make if this amendment is adopted,” Bachus said.  “This amendment allows us to immediately go into the market and immediately address the credit concerns, and then come back and address alternatives.”

Bachus said the amendment is the “best of all worlds” and predicted it would receive bipartisan support in the House and Senate and from the American public. 

“Right now nobody knows how much Paulson needs or how much it’ll take to ease the credit crisis and calm the economy,” LaTourette said.

LaTourette said if the amendment is made in order by the Rules Committee “we believe it will fly out of the House and pass.” 

LaTourette said the Senate bill contains great improvements from the House version he opposed Monday, including increasing FDIC insurance limits from $100,000 to $250,000 and adding tax relief for small business.  He is also pleased that the Securities and Exchange Commission will relax mark-to-market accounting rules that have harmed banks across the country.

LaTourette said he is striving for a way to support a bill because he knows something must be done.  He said his constituents were already troubled by the bailout and phones rang off the hook in his offices today with outraged calls about hundreds of millions of dollars of pork slipped in the Senate bill for items like children’s wooden arrows, race tracks and Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum.

LaTourette’s amendment would also strip out the most offensive tax breaks.

“House and Senate leaders promised the bill wouldn’t be a Christmas tree of add-ons and in a matter of days it’s gone from a Charlie Brown Christmas tree to Rockefeller Center,” LaTourette said.  “It’s Christmas in October.”