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Congressmen weigh in on failed $700 billion dollar bail out
By VAL CLIFTON
When Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke requested approval of a $700 billion plan to bail out Wall Street, area congressmen answered the call with a resounding “no.”
Feeling pressured to pass the rushed plan, leaving little time for fact gathering or expert opinion, two Texas legislators voted against the plan, which they said would use taxpayer money to fix mistakes stemming from poor fiscal judgment.
Congressman Ted Poe said the plan was like paying somebody’s bad gambling debt.
“The plan failed because the Wall Street fat cats expected the American taxpayer to foot the bill for their mistake,” Poe said. “Wall Street made bad financial decisions and they should suffer the consequences first, not the American taxpayer.”
Paulson’s plan was refused because there was no input from other congress members or economic experts, he said. In addition, he believes there were political motives behind the rush to push the plan through.
“One week before Congress was supposed to adjourn for the elections, Paulson said the ‘sky is falling,’” Poe said. “Now we know after more conversations with him that this was known about for a year. So why didn’t he tell us months ago?”
The congressman agreed that there need to be rules and regulations, but giving rule over the entire financial industry to one person would equate to a nationalization of the free market.
Poe said there are currently various proposals, but a bipartisan effort would be necessary to pass the measure.
“The political pressure put on the members of congress to pass this in a hurry didn’t work and I’m glad to see that both sides, republicans and democrats defeated this bailout,” he said. “It would have been a sellout to the American public if it had passed.”
The plan, Poe said, will hopefully have some guarantees for the American consumer and include more taxpayer protection.
“Meetings have already started taking place,” he said. “And Thursday there should be a draft of new legislation that will be based upon the premise that the people who caused the problem should suffer the loss.”
Congressman Michael McCaul, who had “deep concerns” about allowing government intervention in a private sector, also voted against the bailout.
“In a capitalist system people are held responsible for their decisions,” McCaul said in a release. “They don’t dump bad debt on the public.”
He said if Congress doesn’t come up with a logical solution, it could result in the largest sub-prime loan ever issued.
“If we don’t make the necessary reforms to fix the fundamental problems with our economy we are throwing good money after bad,” McCaul said. “It will be on the backs of the taxpayers and the debt will be passed down to our children. That’s the result we want to avoid.”
Feeling pressured to pass the rushed plan, leaving little time for fact gathering or expert opinion, two Texas legislators voted against the plan, which they said would use taxpayer money to fix mistakes stemming from poor fiscal judgment.
Congressman Ted Poe said the plan was like paying somebody’s bad gambling debt.
“The plan failed because the Wall Street fat cats expected the American taxpayer to foot the bill for their mistake,” Poe said. “Wall Street made bad financial decisions and they should suffer the consequences first, not the American taxpayer.”
Paulson’s plan was refused because there was no input from other congress members or economic experts, he said. In addition, he believes there were political motives behind the rush to push the plan through.
“One week before Congress was supposed to adjourn for the elections, Paulson said the ‘sky is falling,’” Poe said. “Now we know after more conversations with him that this was known about for a year. So why didn’t he tell us months ago?”
The congressman agreed that there need to be rules and regulations, but giving rule over the entire financial industry to one person would equate to a nationalization of the free market.
Poe said there are currently various proposals, but a bipartisan effort would be necessary to pass the measure.
“The political pressure put on the members of congress to pass this in a hurry didn’t work and I’m glad to see that both sides, republicans and democrats defeated this bailout,” he said. “It would have been a sellout to the American public if it had passed.”
The plan, Poe said, will hopefully have some guarantees for the American consumer and include more taxpayer protection.
“Meetings have already started taking place,” he said. “And Thursday there should be a draft of new legislation that will be based upon the premise that the people who caused the problem should suffer the loss.”
Congressman Michael McCaul, who had “deep concerns” about allowing government intervention in a private sector, also voted against the bailout.
“In a capitalist system people are held responsible for their decisions,” McCaul said in a release. “They don’t dump bad debt on the public.”
He said if Congress doesn’t come up with a logical solution, it could result in the largest sub-prime loan ever issued.
“If we don’t make the necessary reforms to fix the fundamental problems with our economy we are throwing good money after bad,” McCaul said. “It will be on the backs of the taxpayers and the debt will be passed down to our children. That’s the result we want to avoid.”
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