Congressman Mel Watt (12th District of North Carolina) today made the following statement about yesterday’s vote on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act:

 

"The Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve privately described to members of Congress a developing economic and credit crisis that they projected could well be worse than the Great Depression.  Under these circumstances it would have been irresponsible not to respond in a constructive way.  The Financial Services Committee, on which I serve, started with a proposed "blank check" to this Administration and developed it into a responsible proposal that included oversight, accountability, help for homeowners and reasonable assurance that taxpayers would get all their money back over 5 years.  It's unfortunate that the President had neither the communication skills or the credibility to convince the public that a real crisis existed that needed any response at all.  It's even more unfortunate that the public will soon see for itself that something really needed to be done."