Updated – 6:05 p.m.
House defeats the bailout 228-205.
Rep. Thelma Drake (R-VA02) voted NO.
“Today, a bi-partisan majority of the US House rejected the Congressional Leadership/Bush Administration’s Wall Street bailout plan. I joined a majority of House members who voted to reject the false choice presented as doing this plan or doing nothing to solve the economic crisis,” said Drake in a press release. “A real solution to this problem will put the taxpayers first, require Wall Street to pay its fair share, and will address the root causes of this crisis, including immediately reviewing the “mark to market rule” to determine its role in the financial crisis. I stand ready to return to Washington to address this issue in a bi-partisan fashion.”
Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-VA04) also voted NO.
“While many Members of Congress agree that our unstable economic situation calls for decisive action, an overwhelming bipartisan majority (95 Democrats and 133 Republicans) agreed this proposal was not the action needed. I have met almost non-stop over the last several days with members of the Treasury Department and former Chairman of the FDIC who cautioned that this plan may not work,” said Forbes. “Unfortunately, if we spend $700 Billion of taxpayer money and it fails, there is no backstop. I believe we should stay in session until we have created a vehicle to give us long term stability and not settle for one that may be a short term fix with a long term price tag.”
According to the AP, the House will reconvene on Thursday.
Leslie put it this way:
The U.S. House of Representatives has defended the Constitution, the will of the people, the market economy, the lessons of history, justice, and common sense by rejecting, by a vote of 205-228, the $700-Billion bail-out bill.
Rep. Eric Cantor on CNN:
Look at the votes today, 94 Democrats voted “No.” 94. Now, when we were in the majority, I think we would make a decision that we would be able to come to the floor and bring a solution to the American people and pass it. They made a decision to leave 94 of their votes off the table. And, frankly, as you can see, a majority of our votes that wouldn’t go along. Clearly this is an instance where you see Speaker Pelosi’s failure to listen, failure to lead. This caps off a year that I think has been probably the most unproductive year in the U.S. congress that I’ve seen in my lifetime. No production of any bailout bill. No energy bill. No appropriations process. Very little to show the American people. So we’re going to…go back to the drawing table and look to see where we can come together, listen to our members, and produce a solution for the American people.
Apparently this speech, referred to by Rep. Cantor in his remarks, really ticked-off a lot of folks:
Also voting “No”: Reps. Wittman and Scott
