Today, Congress missed the opportunity to unleash the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit, along with a wave of private capital and investment, to deal with the needs of the market in a truly American way.
Instead, $700 billion of taxpayer money was put towards a bailout that only serves to hurt our nation’s long-term financial health. It increases our national debt, increases the size of government, and moves us further down the road of unsustainable federal budget growth.
My support is with an alternative plan that would utilize private capital to solve the problem far better than government bureaucrats. By removing the barriers to risk-taking and investment, and providing a government-backed insurance program as a safety net, we would be laying the groundwork to avoid future problems.
I came to Washington to stand up for the interests of regular families and taxpayers who have already felt the impact of the market downturn. They should not be forced to shoulder the burden of those who created the bailout as well. This bill is characteristic of this tax-and-spend Congress, and one that I will continue fighting against.”
"If you have a flat tire, you can't just fill it with air, you have to fix the hole first," Schmdit said.
Calls to the congresswoman's office had been running as high as 70 percent against the bailout proposal. (Source)
“This bill would set a dangerous precedent by forcing hard-working families to pay for the mistakes of businesses that acted irresponsibly,” Chabot said. (Source)
· “Democrats believe in a free market. We know that it can create jobs, it can create wealth, it can create many good things in our economy. But in this case, in its unbridled form, as encouraged, supported, by the Republicans, some in the Republican Party, not all, it has created not jobs, not capital, it has created chaos.”Way to show the bipartisan spirit required in a situation like this! Did she wanted Republican votes on this thing or what? It sure doesn't sound like it to me. She chose to take the opportunity to attack Republicans and appeal to her liberal base, rather than working to get the bill done for the American people.
· “$700 billion. A staggering number. But only a part of the cost of the failed Bush economic policies to our country. Policies that were built on budget recklessness, when President Bush took office, he inherited President Clinton’s surpluses four years in a row, budget surpluses. On a trajectory of $5.6 trillion in surplus. And with his reckless economic policies, within two years, he had turned that around. Now eight years later, the foundation of that fiscal irresponsibility, combined with an anything goes economic policy, has taken us to where we are today. They claim to be free market advocates when it’s really an anything goes mentality. No regulation, no supervision, no discipline. And if you fail, you will have a golden parachute and the taxpayer will bail you out. Those days are over. The party is over.”
· “For too long this government, eight years, has followed a right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation.”
· “Before long we will have a new Congress, a new President of the United States, and we will be able to take our country in a new direction.”
