|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 3, 2008
|
|
|
Contact: Zach Goldberg
202-225-5801 (office) |
|
HOLT STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF FINANCIAL RESCUE LEGISLATION
|
|
|
(Washington, D.C.) – Rep. Holt today released the following statement on his vote in favor of the economic rescue plan. The legislation passed by a vote of 263-171 and has since been signed into law by President Bush.
I share my constituents’ anger about this mess and how we got here. The government did so much wrong, and while Democrats in Congress tried to set them straight many times, we obviously did not do so strongly enough.
At the outset of the debate over the original, unacceptable Bush-Paulson proposal, I argued that the bill would need to include these principles: taxpayer ownership and protection, aggressive oversight, and help for homeowners. These principles are all met in part, but this bill is not perfect. For one thing, the Secretary of the Treasury should have even greater limits. The cost recovery from the financial district should be sooner. I dislike the Senate’s adding extraneous tax provisions. We all have better ideas of how to fix the problem, but no one has 218 votes for his or her plan. This is the compromise.
As best I can tell, there would be harm in doing nothing. The crisis is real. We need to act quickly to staunch this crisis of confidence, because if credit locks up, it affects ordinary Americans, ordinary homeowners, and every small business. It is already happening.
Some have suggested we defeat this bill to teach a lesson to Wall Street highflyers. We could do that. We could teach a lesson to Secretary Paulson, President Bush, and the regulatory agencies. We could teach a lesson to the mortgage companies who entice borrowers to get over their heads. We could teach the Senators a lesson not to attach extraneous things to a financial bill. We could let the credit markets freeze up. We could let small businesses fail to meet next week’s payroll. We could let college students drop out because they can’t pay tuition. We could leave farmers, homeowners, and factories out in the cold. Would that teach the right lesson to the right people? I don’t think so.
Instead, I am supporting this bill because there is more harm if we do not act, because of its improvements, because it will cost far less than the original $700 billion Paulson proposal, because it adheres to the principles we laid out at the beginning of the debate, and because it includes a temporary Alternative Minimum Tax fix and my own property tax relief initiative.
We will be making a serious mistake, however, if we do not act further to address this crisis. There remain long term problems: problems of bond traders wheeling and dealing in paper with no thought of the homes, factories, and people behind these bonds; problems of some employers who show no allegiance to their workers; problems of families who even in good times consume more than they save; problems at regulatory agencies that revel in the unrestrained trading.
We have more to do to address our weak economy, which we learned today has seen a loss of 159,000 jobs in the last month. I will continue to lead efforts in Congress to get to the root of the problem, repair bad mortgages, and to help middle class families. We should not wait for a new administration to address our nation’s pressing economic concerns.
# # #
|
|
|
|
