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!
Mark Garrity (not verified) on Mon, 09/29/2008 - 15:05
This bill was the best of a bad lot. Judy Biggert said last week that taxpayer equity and limits on CEO pay sounded like "socialism" to her. I'd like to hear her reasoning today for her no vote.
North Sider (not verified) on Mon, 09/29/2008 - 15:44
"Dems do NOT vote to bail out the folks
who tell everyone else to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. "
Well, apparently some do.
Philosophe Forum on Mon, 09/29/2008 - 21:53
Here is part of Costello's excuse: . . . numerous economists insist that the Paulson approach will not work. And I resent being told by the investment bankers in the Bush administration and on Wall Street - the very people that have railed against government oversight in the financial industry for years - that the taxpayers must come to their rescue. . .
Any finger-pointing from the GOP is rather ironic after seeing the vote results ---> But the atmosphere now is somewhere between tense and toxic. House Republican leader John Boehner said Rep. Pelosi's speech, in which she blamed the right-wing ideology of anything goes for bringing about the market crisis, had poisoned the atmosphere among his troops. Democratic caucus leader Rahm Emanuel countered that such a charge masked a more basic Republican failure to deliver the votes needed for a measure that failed 228 to 205. Democrats delivered 140 votes; we were supposed to deliver 125, Rep. Emanuel said. They were supposed to deliver 100 votes. They delivered 65.
The problem is Republicans like Shimkus who have been bought by the finance industry and the Rahmbo Blue Dog Dems that follow along. The Dem legislation they keep rejecting is quite similar to a six-point plan from an ECON prof at Columbia with a Nobel to his name. For Commander Guy and his IL-19 minion, the list is over their heads.
Now Congress has to do something. A bailout from the taxpayers is the only answer. Every decent financial analyst predicted the current global meltdown. The international markets are just as volatile -- or more fragile? HONG KONG -- Asian markets tumbled Tuesday, with shares plunging across the board on fears about the global credit crisis after the U.S. House of Representatives voted down the $700 billion financial bailout package overnight.
ALISON, MPA
http://philosopheforum.blogspot.com/
"Responsible Leadership Serving the Public Trust"
markg8 on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 07:46
On WBEZ yesterday on the 5pm newscast Biggert said she voted against it because she wanted FBI investigations of mortgage fraud "beefed" up. This is after she said in the Herald article that it was no time to point fingers.
One of the "culprits" Republicans are trying to finger is minority home ownership under the Community Reinvestment Act. The fact is the CRA only covers regulated banks, not mortgage brokers and companies who wrote most of the "liar loans". In any case the Bush Administration loosened the CRA rules with the approval of Republicans like Biggert back in 2001 or 2002.
Look for the DOJ to go after some hapless single black mothers in white suburbs who are upside down, trapped in houses their mortgage brokers told them they could refi before the ARM kicked in into 30 year fixed mortgages with payments they could afford for the long haul. I wouldn't be surprised to find Biggert's staff hard at work helping to locate just such "wanton criminals".
Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 15:48
When the economy crashes and we go into a Global resession and potentially US Depression like we did in the 30's, I hope that the representatives who voted NO remember their decision as they are voted out of office and are unable to find work. I certainly intend to vote No in their re-election.
d.e. trippp (not verified) on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 17:39
The reason nothing can ever get done is easy to see with this effort to bail-out (rescue) the banking industry. I'm not the great "expert" you undoubtably are, but I think if you would present the legislation without all the added pork it might get through. I realize I'm just a stupid voter that is about to retire and you're just another head bobber following the Queen "'B's" direction. Show some B_LLS.
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