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By BRIAN A. HOWEY
INDIANAPOLIS - The U.S. House followed the lead of U.S. Rep. Mike Pence and voted down the $700 billion bailout this afternoon 228-205, sending the Dow plunging by 777 points - or 7 percent - as the American economy teetered on the brink of disaster. The S&P lost 8.75 percent of its value. Pence was joined by U.S. Reps. Dan Burton, Baron Hill, Andre Carson, Steve Buyer and Pete Visclosky in voting no. Voting yes were U.S. Reps. Mark Souder, Brad Ellsworth and Joe Donnelly.
The vote came despite the Bush administration working with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to try and establish the bailout. She said that Democrats upheld “our side of the bargain.” The Republican caucus voted against the bailout by a 2 to 1 margin. “I’m disappointed in the vote,” Bush said at the White House around 3:30. “We’ve got a big problem. We will work with leaders of Congress on the way forward.”
Pence (pictured above) sent a letter to his colleagues over the weekend and said, “We now have a deal that promises to bring near-term stability to our financial turmoil, but at what price? Economic freedom means the freedom to succeed and the freedom to fail. The decision to give the federal government the ability to nationalize almost every bad mortgage in America interrupts this basic truth of our free market economy. Republicans improved this bill but it remains the largest corporate bailout in American history, forever changes the relationship between government and the financial sector, and passes the cost along to the American people. I cannot support it.”
Pence said that during the weekend of Sept. 19-20, many of his 6th CD constituents had voice strident opposition to the bailout. On the House floor, Pence said this morning, “Economic freedom means the freedom to succeed and the freedom to fail. The decision to give the federal government the ability to nationalize almost every bad mortgage in America interrupts this basic truth of our free market economy.”
It was a sharp contrast to U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar who said over the weekend, “Failure to pass such legislation would lead to massive unemployment and failure of small business and farming operations in Indiana . That is unacceptable.”
Two Hoosier Democrats shifted their positions. Over the weekend, Rep. Hill told the News & Tribune of New Albany and Jeffersonville that he was leaning toward backing the package, as did Rep. Carson.
Carson was asked on National Public Radio’s Politics & Society whether he would support the bailout. He responded, “Well, you know, the short answer, yes. Not happy with everything that’s in the language right now in the proposal, but we have to do it to help fellow Americans.”
Hill, like many Hoosiers, had trouble believing President Bush. “I have been rushed to judgment by the Bush administration before,” said Hill, who voted for the October 2002 Iraq War resolution. He since has accused the Bush administration of lying about the case for that war. “There hasn’t been enough time to evaluate the impacts this legislation would have if enacted or to consider alternatives. Congress deserves time to weigh the benefits and the potential pitfalls of borrowing this money.” Hill is being challenged by former Republican congressman Mike Sodrel, who said he opposed the plan because “taxpayers don’t have $700 billion.”
Sodrel accused Speaker Pelosi of giving Hill a pass on the vote. “Nancy Pelosi does not want to lose her position as Speaker of the House,” Sodrel said. “She has allowed vulnerable Democrat members like Baron Hill to vote against the $700 billion bailout. Apparently she believes House Members Brad Ellsworth and Joe Donnelly are safe as they voted for the bailout.”
Sodrel predicted a new package would be back this week. “Someone who stood with the majority that defeated it will bring it back for reconsideration or it will come back in a different version,” Sodrel said. And he added a life lesson: “My dad always said, ‘Son, you can’t borrow your way out of debt.’ The taxpayer doesn’t have $700 billion dollars. The taxpayer owes almost $10 trillion. They will owe more than $10 trillion if this deal is eventually approved because they will have to borrow another $700 billion in addition to the $400 billion deficit this year.”
Rep. Donnelly explained his yes vote, saying, “I couldn’t be angrier at the Wall Street executives who have put our jobs and futures at risk. However, I decided to support this bill because I believe it is my duty to do everything I can to protect our jobs and our savings back home.”
Rep. Burton explained his no vote by saying, “I firmly believe Congress must pass an Alternative Economic Rescue Plan. Congress should not leave Washington until we solve this problem. I voted no today because, in the long term, I believe this particular bill would be devastating to the economy and create an inflationary nightmare.”
Rep. Souder split with most House Republicans on Monday to support legislation he said would “put a finger in the dike” of economic turmoil (Smith, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette). Souder pointed to other signals of an economy in crisis, including the buyout of Wachovia Bank, and said the House’s rejection of the bailout bill aggravated the situation. “The turmoil was (already) there,” he said. “We just didn’t put a finger in the dike.”
Rep. Ellsworth called the package “a loan” and explained, “This economic crisis touches all of our lives, but that doesn’t mean it should be solved on the backs of hard-working Americans. By including these new taxpayer protections, we’re sending a message to Wall Street: ‘This is a loan, not a giveaway. And we expect to be repaid in full.’”
Rep. Buyer said, “This bailout of Wall Street was a hurried and stressed solution that in the end may not be in the best interest of the taxpayers. I continue to be hopeful a compromise can be reached between all parties that will not burden taxpayers and keep in place the principles of a free-market economy. This bill had achieved neither.”
Rep. Visclosky said he voted no because, “When many Bethlehem Steel retirees had their pensions cut, did President Bush provide a helping hand? All I know is that when Stan O’Neal retired from Merrill Lynch, his compensation package was worth $161.5 million.”
Tags: Andre Carson, Baron Hill, Dan Burton, Joe Donnelly, Steve Buyer, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence
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This entry was written by and posted on September 29, 2008 at 2:40 pm and filed under HPI Weekly. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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