Here’s the statement from Rep. Mike Thompson explaining why he voted for the bailout package today after rejecting it on Monday. Both he and Rep. Lynn Woolsey were among those who voted for the bill today. The bill passed on a House vote of 263 to 171. President Bush quickly signed it into law about an hour ago.
Here’s what Thompson had to say:
“In the last few days it’s become clear that we must take action to restore a measure of confidence in our economy. You don’t have to look any further than today’s unemployment report, which showed our economy shedding more than 159,000 jobs in the last month. And unemployment in California is higher than at any point in the last 12 years. This just added to the growing pile of evidence that we can’t afford to wait for the perfect piece of legislation. We have to do something to get our credit markets working again.”
“This week I heard from people all across the district who are starting to feel the credit crunch in a real way. I heard from Dick Caletti at Standard Structures in Windsor. He was about to finalize a $10 million order from a Texas company until they got word this week that the project was stalled because of the credit crisis. There are fifty jobs tied to that one contract. Many more of our small businesses will be forced to lay off workers or wait on hiring new workers if they don’t have access to credit.”
“I’ve said from the beginning that we must pass regulatory reform to address the underlying causes of this crisis, and I’ve received written commitments from Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Frank that passing regulatory reform legislation will be at the top of our agenda moving forward and will stay there until we get it done.”
“At the end of the day I had to set aside my outrage at all of the flawed policies, greed and incompetence that got us to this point and do what was best for our district and our country moving forward. I had to choose to either do nothing or vote for an imperfect rescue package. I voted for the bill because I believe it was the only option that we had available to begin to work our way out of this crisis. I would not have made this vote without commitments from Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Frank that Congress will address the needed regulatory adjustments to help protect the taxpayers and establish a safer financial system.”
– Paul Gullixson
