All that screaming, name-calling and gnashing of teeth… and they had an even better plan waiting in the wings.

Does this mean we get that $700-billion bailout hijack fund back?

Business loan bailout

Federal Reserve aims to unfreeze credit markets by buying loans crucial to business.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Federal Reserve announced a new program to help the battered market for short-term business loans - taking its closest step yet to lending directly to businesses.

The program addresses commercial paper, a form of short-term funding that is crucial to many businesses operations.

In the past month, the amount of money outstanding in commercial paper loans has fallen 11% to $1.6 trillion on Oct. 1 from $1.82 trillion on Sept. 10. Since much of the paper that was outstanding at the start of the credit crisis is now coming up for renewal, there were fears that it could drop even more sharply in the weeks to come without some drastic improvement in the market.

Under the program announced Tuesday morning, the Fed will purchase three-month unsecured and asset-backed commercial paper directly from eligible issuers. The program is slated to expire in April 2009 and will have financial support from taxpayers.

“The Treasury believes this facility is necessary to prevent substantial disruptions to the financial markets and the economy and will make a special deposit at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in support of this facility,” said the Fed’s statement.