“For the past two weeks, I have been fighting in Congress to make this
flawed bill better. Some of what I and others fought for we achieved:
aggressive congressional oversight, a crack down on rip-off executive pay and
golden parachutes, and protection for the taxpayer by securing equity in rescued
companies.

“In spite of these improvements, I opposed the original bill, supported
by House leadership, because it was still not strong enough. I urgently
wanted to establish a “stability fund” to make sure that the cost of this
program was ultimately borne by the financial industry, not the taxpayer.

“I will, however, vote for the new bill before the House today for
three significant reasons.

“On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting on a
request by me and several colleagues, revised misguided accounting rules that
are putting unnecessary pressure on lending institutions and leading to further
instability in the financial industry. This is a positive and much needed
step forward that will reduce the price tag of this bailout by minimizing the
number of institutions needing taxpayer assistance.

“Also, the bill improves the Paulson plan by raising the ceiling on
federal insurance for bank deposits from $100,000 to $250,000. This
provision will provide much needed additional security to consumers and small
businesses worried about the stability of their financial institutions.

“And, on Tuesday, I spoke at length with Senator Obama. He shares
the reservations I have about this legislation. He assured me that, as
president, he will improve this bill in two essential ways. He is
committed to assisting struggling homeowners with bankruptcy protections, and
establishing a “recoupment” fund so the financial services industry, not
taxpayers, will ultimately foot the bill for this rescue.

“Passing this plan, imperfect as it may be, protects taxpayers and
gives us our best chance at stabilizing the economy and protecting the jobs,
savings, and retirement accounts of hard working Vermonters. Those were my
goals. That is my responsibility. And that is why I vote yes on this
revised bill.

“This is a bitter pill to swallow, especially for thrifty and
responsible Vermonters. It is my judgment, however, that a failure to act
would further aggravate economic instability for working Vermonters and
businesses.

“Our economic problems will not be solved with this new law.
There is no quick-fix. The path to a more prosperous future will take a
return to the core values Vermonters know: Our economic policies must
support our middle class. We can’t spend and borrow beyond our
means. And we must reward work and entrepreneurship, not speculation and
market manipulation.
“By returning to common sense values that have
been the foundation of our nation, we can help all Vermonters and all Americans
prosper. That is the hard work that lies ahead.”

“Today, the Bush administration and Wall Street bankers got what they
wanted – a $700 billion bailout with all the risk put on middle-income
taxpayers.

“To me, it is grossly unfair that the middle class,
whose standard of living is declining, is forced to pick up the tab for Wall
Street’s greed and irresponsibility, and not the top 1 percent who have
benefited from Bush’s reckless policies.

“In the midst of the
severe financial crisis facing our country it is clear that Congress must act,
but this legislation does not accomplish what must be done.

“In
addition to saddling the middle class with the cost of the bailout, this bill
does nothing to stimulate the economy and create good-paying jobs by rebuilding
our infrastructure; does nothing to undo the dangerous deregulation which caused
this crisis; does nothing to address the ‘too big to fail’ doctrine which will
likely repeat itself. And it does far too little to solve the housing
foreclosure crisis which is impacting millions of Americans, not only driving
them from their homes but creating more and deeper problems for banks and
financial institutions.”

posted by vt.Buzz  |  4:22 PM |