Washington, D.C. , Oct 3 -

Today U.S. Representative John T. Doolittle (R-Roseville) voted against H.R. 1424, the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,” and issued the following statement:      

 “The provisions of this bill relating to the economic emergency are substantially improved over the previous bill.  But for the House having defeated the first bill last Monday, we would not have the modification of the punitive accounting rules (“mark-to-market”) that have endangered the soundness of our financial institutions or the increase in the F.D.I.C. deposit insurance limits from $100,000 to $250,000.  These changes will help stabilize our economy without any burden to the taxpayers whatsoever.

 “Unfortunately, this legislation still has at its core the expenditure of $700 billion of taxpayer money to bail out the irresponsible businesses that made bad decisions in their lending practices.  There was an alternative available that would have addressed the problem at a dramatically lower cost to the taxpayer.  Inexplicably, Washington turned a deaf ear to this alternative and continued to pursue spending the $700 billion, which will neither solve this crisis nor prevent the next one.  Washington is addicted to fiscal policies that simply cannot be sustained if our nation is to remain the beacon of freedom, hope and opportunity to the world.

“Despite my opposition to this bill, I am very pleased to see that it contains the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, something that I have actively sought for the last several years so that our forest-dependent counties continue to receive the funding for essential services promised by the United States government at the time the National Forest system was created in 1908.  This bill guarantees that funding will continue until 2011.  I also support the tax incentives this bill contains for important solar energy and other alternative energy sources.“

U.S. Rep. John T. Doolittle has served in the House of Representatives since 1991.  The 4th Congressional District stretches from the eastern Sacramento Region to Lake Tahoe on the south and runs up the Sierra Nevada range to the high desert of Modoc County on the Oregon border in the north. It encompasses the entire counties of El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, and Sierra. Additionally, it includes the community of Orangevale in Sacramento County and the Oroville area in Butte County.