The responses from various members of the Illinois congressional delegation are starting to trickle in. So far we have statements from Reps. Jesse Jackson and Phil Hare.
Here's Jackson's explanation of his nay vote:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Chairman Barney Frank and Chairman Chris Dodd should be commended for their efforts to improve the seriously flawed bailout proposed by the Bush Administration. I am confident that Democrats will continue working to fix and improve the dismal fiscal situation created by the laissez faire policies of President Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress. [...]
"To heal the systemic problems in our financial system we need to treat the cause, not only the symptoms. Congress needs to pass and the president needs to sign into law the following provisions: 1) a second stimulus to help those squeezed by the financial crisis; 2) a substantial investment in infrastructure which could jump start the economy while creating jobs, and; 3) a program that helps keep taxpayers in their homes. This bill does not contain provisions that explicitly help borrowers restructure their mortgages. Buying 'trash (bad mortgages) for cash ($700 billion bailout)' may not cure our financial system, since it was these bad mortgages that engineered this market collapse," said Jackson.
Below is an excerpt from Hare's statement on his vote in favor of the bill:
“It was not a gift or a blank check. It provided the federal government the authority to loan money to certain financial institutions so they could resume lending to ordinary Americans. This would have allowed more families to afford their homes, cars and tuition payments and enabled our farmers to continue buying equipment, seed and fertilizer.
“Now it is imperative that we go back to the drawing board and craft new bipartisan legislation that protects Main Street from Wall Street. As we consider our next steps, I will continue to fight to enact stronger protections for homeowners facing foreclosure, something this bill lacked.
“We should also pass an economic stimulus package that creates jobs by investing in our crumbling infrastructure.
UPDATE (5:53pm): Rep. Bill Foster's office just released a statement on his aye vote:
“Nobody likes the situation we are in, and this bill was far from perfect, but today, in an extremely tough and close vote, I supported the Emergency Economic Stabilization bill to ensure the economic hardships facing our middle-class families and small businesses all over the 14th District would not worsen,” Rep. Foster said. “The bill was the tough medicine we needed to get the economy back on solid footing.” [...]
"You don’t have to be a scientist or a businessman to know that the $350 billion we were committing to stabilize the market – with good prospects for most of the money being returned over time -- was a much better deal for Americans than what happened as a result of the bill being defeated.”
Concluded Foster, “Now we need to regroup, and I will do whatever it takes to bring responsible members of Congress together so we can find a bipartisan solution that will resuscitate our economy.”
No Way, Phil (not verified) on Mon, 09/29/2008 - 14:06
Never again, Phil Hare. I don't care if this was structured or not. Dems do NOT vote to bail out the folks
who tell everyone else to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. And, call it what you want, but it is a
bailout!