Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. Proudly Serving the 6th District of Minnesota

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Washington, D.C., Oct 3, 2008 - Today Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) released the following statement after voting against the Senate version of the bailout package:

"Speaker Pelosi and the Bush Administration crafted this short-sighted bailout, taking a risky gamble with$700 billion in taxpayer dollars.  There were no substantive changes made to the Paulson Plan that was rejected by a bipartisan majority of the House, 205 – 228, on Monday.  I am disappointed that Congress did not use its second chance to fix this bill and do the right thing for both American taxpayers and our financial markets.  

"Congress could have passed a better bill that did not expose taxpayers to such serious risks, would not have set us up for extraordinary future debt, and would help the nation weather this crisis while minimizing impact on Main Street America.  It could have injected capital into our marketplace by suspending capital gains taxes and making targeted tax cuts for companies who invest in America, not foreign countries.  It could have given value to troublesome assets by insuring them, rather than purchasing them on the backs of taxpayers, thus rejuvenating confidence our markets so desperately need.  It could have included real, strong provisions to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to suspend mark to market accounting standards that force companies to take losses on artificially devalued assets on an artificial timetable.  And, it could have reformed the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so that taxpayers do not continue to fuel their risky, unrestrained growth.  Our financial market instability, after all, can be traced right back to their ill-advised behavior and failure to address that root cause will likely lead us right back to this point again in the future.

"We have no real assurances that the Paulson Plan will work.  We have no real safeguards that the taxpayers will be paid back.  And, we have set the dangerous precedent that government will swoop in and wipe away Wall Street’s worst decisions the next time it asks. 

"I fear the Congress and the President have done a great disservice to the American people today and have set this country on a deliberate path away from the free market principles upon which our nation was founded.  As Secretary Paulson and his successor, whoever that may be, implement this giant taxpayer backstop throughout our financial markets, taxpayers can only cross their fingers that the enormous gamble Speaker Pelosi and President Bush took today will truly pay off in the long run." 

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