Reichert Opposes Bail-Out; Seeks Alternatives to Address Credit Crunch
Washington, D.C.,
Oct 3 -
Congressman Dave Reichert (WA-08) opposed the Senate-tweaked economic bail-out legislation when it came before the House of Representatives today. The measure, nearly identical to the original version Reichert opposed on Monday, passed by a vote of 263 to 171.
“It is imperative that we act to ensure that middle class families and entrepreneurs have access to credit, so that they can buy homes, put children through college, grow businesses, and create jobs,” said Reichert. “There’s a better way to get this done than to rush to authorize an unprecedented sum of taxpayer dollars for which we have little assurance that it addresses the real illness in our financial system, and not just a symptom of it. This proposed remedy could be more harmful than the illness.
“In an effort to secure new votes for the bailout, the Senate also added many provisions that other Members and I have long championed, like extensions of the state sales tax deduction, child tax credit, and funding for rural schools. They even tacked on legislation I helped author to aid victims of the Exxon Valdez oil spill secure their retirements. But at the end of the day, this remained a vote on a virtually unchanged bailout package that I opposed earlier in the week, and which did not include many of the improvements I advocated for to better protect taxpayer dollars, utilize private capital, and improve oversight of the funds.
“Furthermore, to get our economy back on track, we must address our nation’s lack of a comprehensive energy policy, skyrocketing health care costs, needs for improvement in education for a strong workforce, stalled trade agreements, and keeping taxes low.”
Reichert was pleased that the Senate package included an increase in FDIC insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 that he sought and helped introduce even before consideration of the first bailout bill. He continued to advocate for alternative proposals throughout the week, communicating with House Leadership and other policymakers to call for greater restrictions on the Treasury authority and solutions that employed private capital, not taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, House Leadership did not permit any alternative measures to be considered on the floor prior to the vote.
Reichert spent the week gathering information, evaluating dozens of proposals, and carefully deliberating the package. He met with and solicited input from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, leading economists and financial experts, Treasury Secretary Paulson and senior Administration officials, members of his 8th District Economic Advisory Committee, and heard from thousands of constituents.
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