Congressman José E. Serrano voted against the Wall Street bailout bill today. 

“Today we took another difficult vote on the bailout bill, and I again voted against it,” Serrano said. “I spent a great deal of time thinking and consulting on this issue since our first vote on Monday. I came to the conclusion that the package that was presented to us today was not improved from the package I voted against earlier this week.

“Because it is the same, except for some unrelated additions, my concerns about it remain the same—it is not structured to attack the problem from the bottom up. It does not address the root of the problem: the foreclosures and debt facing our working and middle class families.  This bill does nothing to help those who are most in need of help.  Instead, it still focuses on bailing out the very people who created this problem in the first place. I could not represent the working people of my district in good faith and vote for this bill.

“I understand that there is a credit crisis, and would be open to measures that directly address that issue. This bill, however, does not do that.  I spoke with many colleagues urging that we look directly at that issue, rather than using this blank check approach. Many were receptive to the need for a more targeted and fair approach, but we had been pressed for time by the panic that the country seemed to be experiencing, fanned by the proponents of this plan.

“In my no vote, I was speaking for the people in the Bronx and people across the nation who are stuck without any help from our government. I was speaking against bailing out the very people who caused this mess. I was speaking for fairness in our economic policies. And I stand by my vote.”

###