Comments Of Senator Patrick Leahy

About The Bailout Package

Defeated Monday In The House Of Representatives

Monday, September 29, 2008

  

From the start, the Bush-Paulson plan smacked too much of the top-down fiscal policy that has gone so wrong over the last decade.  Our concern should be about how the credit crisis threatens ordinary Americans and we should not wring our hands if inept CEOs lose their jobs or their golden parachutes.  Vermonters are worried about tightening credit that would erode the value of their homes and squeeze their businesses, farms and families.  The spectacle of our having to fight to make commonsense improvements in this package has understandably fueled public skepticism about it.

 

The public’s lack of confidence in this administration has come home to roost in the vote against this bailout plan.  An administration that squandered record surpluses and turned them into record deficits and debt does not have much credibility left.  Apparently even many in the President’s own party have now come to agree with those of us who have long felt that ‘trust me’ is not enough when this White House asks for sweeping new powers. 

 

I worked in good faith to fix some of the shortcomings, and this plan does include my amendment to restore judicial review.  Incredibly, the Bush-Paulson plan had specifically deleted this kind of basic accountability.  But that has not erased my concerns about this package. 

 

Congress should not go home without addressing the credit crisis, and the President needs to work with Congress on a proposal that can earn the public’s confidence.

 

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