Date: 2008-09-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. I rise in support of this legislation. Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. a bill to respond to what could be one of the worst financial crises to face our country. Just over 10 days ago. in response to this crisis. President Bush asked Congress to immediately approve a 21/2page plan to grant neverbeforeseen powers to the Secretary of the Treasury to spend a staggering $700 billion in taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street firms. with no strings attached. no accountability. and no guarantee of success. This President. who has overseen one of the worst economic records in American history. asked us for a blank check. The Speaker of the House. my colleagues. and I said. "No." We rejected his blank check plan. But we did not dismiss the need to take action on behalf of American workers and families already hurt by our economic problems and who would be severely hurt further if this financial crisis becomes a full scale economic meltdown. Instead. we said that if we are to rescue failing institutions because it is in the publics interest then we must ensure that the plan protects the taxpayer and holds officials accountable. The plan that we are voting on today is a far cry from what we were first asked to approve. It is the result of hundreds of hours of negotiations between the House. the Senate. and the White House and between Democrats and Republicans. The result is a plan that: Provides money to rescue firms in stages. not all at once. Limits the compensation of CEOs whose firms the government rescues. No more golden parachutes for Wall Street tycoons who get government assistance. Provides immediate and ongoing tough oversight by independent boards including the Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office. Gives taxpayers ownership of the companies that they would rescue. giving them a share of the profits in those companies. Helps families going through foreclosure. and. Provides a mechanism for paying for any losses the taxpayer might face from this plan. You would think that these protective measures would have been obvious to the President when he asked us to approve his plan. The fact is. Democrats in the House and Senate had to fight for them. We had to fight to limit CEO pay for rescued firms. We had to fight for tough oversight. We had to fight to give taxpayers ownership of the companies we help. And we had to fight to get some mechanism of paying for this plan. So. with great deliberation and a lot of hard work. we made this a much better bill. This bill does not have everything in it that I or others here wanted. It is a compromise. But it is a compromise that I believe is far preferable to the alternative of not acting at all. The American economy is in its weakest condition in many. many years. Rising unemployment. stagnant and declining wages. record high energy costs. and soaring food prices. Mortgage foreclosures continue to rise and home values continue to decline. Fundamental investments in our economy remain unmetfor health care. aging roads. bridges and schools. new energy sources and energy conservation. and for education. Amidst this economic crisis we lace the potential for a sudden meltdown of our nations financial markets of a magnitude that few of us have ever seen in our lifetime and that would reach into every corner of our nation and. further weaken the living standards of every American. No one can say with certainty. but if you believe the .experts predictions the collapse of the financial markets will not just result in the bankruptcy of banks and other firms on Wall Street. The financial collapse would cripple the credit markets and would prevent the economy from growing. hurting Americans ability to borrow at reasonable rates to make payroll at small businesses. invest in new equipment. borrow for college. take out a mortgage. start new businesses. or buy new cars. It would hurt our ability to create new jobs. As we are seeing in California. school districts. counties. and cities are losing millions of dollars because of the collapse of Wall Street firms in which they held investments. The question of whether to help rescue Wall Street firms and stabilize the credit markets is daunting and one that I know each of my colleagues is considering with greatest sense of caution. obligation and responsibility. Americans are furious with the CEOs of Wall Street. and they have every right to be. Just as they should be furious with 8 years of the Bush Administration and 12 years of the Republicanled Congress that did nothing but cut taxes for the rich and help Wall Street with deregulation of the banks and provide no oversight from Washington. With the Republicans help. the barons of Wall Street have taken the upside of the economy with relish. They invented and mastered the golden parachutes and eye popping executive compensation schemes that have created their own economic class in our country. They created new. complex financing mechanisms that were beyond even their own understanding and they violated every common sense rule of corporate transparency and financial soundness. Armed with their powerful lobbyists. Wall Street cunningly held off fair regulations by Congress. arguing that left to their own devices Americans would be better off. The American people are the victims of this gogo. Wild West approach to governing. Well. the damage is done. and the damage is devastating. And now. the party is over. Congress and the American people are going to have to step up to the plate and right the pieces. It will not be easy. But the taxpayers should not be asked to do so without the protections that we have fought to include. That is our primary concernthe American people who have had to withstand a devastating economic downturn during the last eight years. wh6 had to shoulder the mounting costs of bailing out one large bank or financial firm after another. and who have not had anyone come to their own rescue when times got hard. This bill is intended to stabilize the credit markets. slow the decline of foreclosures. slow the decline in home values. and begin to free up credit so that the economy can have a chance to grow. Based on what I have learned from a Wide range of experts across the country. I believe the financial crisis is real and that the consequences of not acting nbw will be far. far worse for average Americans than if we do nothing at all. This bill is not just about trying to prop up the stock market. Markets will rise and fall for a variety of reasons. But the dramatic decline in the stock market clearly hurts tens of millions of Americans with pension funds. retirement accounts. college funds. and other savings that are invested in the stock markets. What we are attempting to do is stabilize the credit markets because that is what fuels our economy and creates jobs and good incomes. The crisis that started on Wall Street does not end on Wall Street. it ends on Main Street. in every small town and big city in our country. If this bill were just about Wall Street. given their behavior. I wouldnt walk across the street to save them. But this is really about our communities and families and peoples access to credit. and jobs and economic growth. This is an important step but clearly much more needs to be done to create jobs and try to stop the slide in home values. For example. the House passed a bill to spend $60 billion quickly on a stimulus plan. for infrastructure and unemployment insurance. The Administration has opposed it and has threatened to veto our plan. Our plan would have created good paying jobs in California and in America. providing an infusion of money for mass transit. highways. water projects. bridges. water recycling. and broadband technology. all of which are an investment in the economic future of America. The President is wrong to oppose this. At a time of rising unemployment. it is unfortunate that the President has opposed us and refuses to support our investment plan. But I will continue to fight for our economic plan that is essential to our longterm economic recovery. I have fought to protect homeowners. taxpayers and consumers. I urge my colleagues to support this plan and to continue to work together to make further investments in the economy that are crying out for our approval to get America moving forward and get Americans working again.