Crawford County’s two congressional representatives once again split their votes on the
$700 billion emergency bailout plan to help stabilize the nation’s troubled economy.
On Fri-day, the House approved the measure 263-171 and it was signed into law by President George Bush.
However, Republican U.S. Rep. Phil English, whose Third District
covers almost all of Crawford County, voted against the plan Friday. Republican U.S. Rep. John Peterson, whose Fifth District includes the Titusville area, voted in favor.
In a conference call with reporters following Friday’s vote, English said he couldn’t support the bill because he thought it still was flawed and could be done “at far smaller expense to the taxpayer.”
In a prepared statement, Peterson said though the new bill wasn’t perfect and won’t solve the financial crisis overnight, it “will inject much needed capital into the economy, allowing consumers to regain confidence in the market and eventually rebound from the disastrous effects of the subprime mortgage meltdown.” Peterson was traveling back to the district and unavailable for comment.
On Monday, an earlier version of the bill was voted down by the House 228-205 with English voting no and Peterson voting yes.
The revised version won Senate approval Wednesday night, 74-25, setting up a furious round of lobbying in the House as the administration, congressional leaders, the presidential candidates and outside groups joined forces behind the measure.
The maneuvers worked — augmented by a shift in public opinion that occurred after the stock market took its largest-ever one-day dive on Monday after the initial measure failed.
On Friday, a total of 33 Democrats and 25 Republicans switched from opposition to support. In all, 91 Republicans joined 172 Democrats to support the measure while 108 Republicans and 63 Democrats voted “no.”
New version signed into law raises from $100,000 to $250,000 the cap on government bank deposit insurance — a key priority for Republicans. Also, a decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission eases accounting rules that require financial institutions to show the deflated value of assets on their balance sheets.
However, English said the bill was “still fundamentally flawed.”
A big problem, English said, involves allowing foreign banks to participate in a taxpayer-funded asset purchase program.
“That was a red flag for many of us,” English said.
Another objection was allowing tax dollars to pay for “golden parachutes” for executives of Wall Street firms that get funding from the bailout. A golden parachute is a lucrative benefits package for an employee who leaves a company.
“There’s little oversight to this program,” English said.
“My assessment of the bill on Monday remains my assessment today: that this bill fails to meet the minimum thresholds of including real consequences for bad actors, strong taxpayer protections and accountability and transparency of any tax dollars used,” English said.
Peterson’s statement said he disagrees with portions of the bill and wouldn’t have supported them had they have come up under normal circumstances.
With the nation’s economy in trouble, “voting to support this legislation may not be popular with many of my constituents, but it was the right thing to do in an effort to salvage our way of life, and get our economy back on track,” the statement said.
The legislation also includes tax extensions on renewable energy development for wind, solar, and geothermal – which are necessary to achieve energy independence, according to the statement.
The bill also reauthorizes the Secure Rural Schools Program, which provides funding for school districts in counties surrounding the Allegheny National Forest and many western states where the federal government owns a large amount of land, Peterson said.
The rescue plan — initially a three-page request from the Bush administration for unlimited power to use $700 billion any way it saw fit to stabilize markets — swelled to more than 450 pages as negotiators added restrictions for the administration and sweeteners for anxious members of Congress.
Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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