And Next Is John Yarmuth.
Again from the Arena:
Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, was among the lawmakers who voted against the financial rescue plan that was rejected by the U.S. House.
The congressman told reporters a short time ago that the plan was "much too much targeted at Wall Street firms and not as much on keeping just the credit flowing throughout the country."
In addition, Yarmuth said, "we were giving unprecedented power to one person, the secretary of the treasury, with absolutely no way to intervene in whatever he did, unless we could prove that what he was doing was unconstitutional."
"We were basically creating an economic czar, someone who comes out of the same segment of the economy that got us into this problem to begin with," he said.
As for the role of politics in lawmakers' decisions, Yarmuth said: "When you get the magnitude of responses that most of us have gotten from their constituents, whether it's election season or not, you're going to give that special attention...we all were getting overwhelming opposition to this bailout plan. We've gotten calls this afternoon, saying thank you for doing that even though people have been watching the stock market go down and seeing some of the value of their investments go down..."
"I never heard so many people in the course of the last week say, 'If this vote costs me my job, so be it.' Without question, people understood the gravity of this situation and the magnitude of the problem, and nobody put politics above what they considered their sincere concern for what was the best course of action."
Yarmuth said that among those who have contacted his office, 965 people were against the plan, with 60 for it.
"Most said, 'Don't reward those people on Wall Street. Don't bail them out,'" Yarmuth said.
The Louisville lawmaker said he would like to see more help for homeowners in a rescue plan.
"The only thing under this bill that the government had the power to do was to encourage lenders to renegotiate mortgages with people who were in trouble - but there was no mandate, no mechanism for doing that," Yarmuth said.
He also wanted a provision that would allow bankruptcy court judges to change the terms of mortgages. That is now allowed under existing law.
Yarmuth also wanted to create automatic fees on securities transactions to make sure the rescue plan did not cost the taxpayers money.
On what happens next with the plan, Yarmuth said "there is a way to save it...I am confident that the government will do something...I think the government does need to act."
"My primary concern is to make sure that the credit markets are flowing, so that small businesses and individuals have access to the credit they need, whether it's buy a car, buy a refrigerator or, a small business, to borrow money for inventory and make payroll," Yarmuth said.
Editor's comment: Another Congressman deserving of another "high five".
Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, was among the lawmakers who voted against the financial rescue plan that was rejected by the U.S. House.
The congressman told reporters a short time ago that the plan was "much too much targeted at Wall Street firms and not as much on keeping just the credit flowing throughout the country."
In addition, Yarmuth said, "we were giving unprecedented power to one person, the secretary of the treasury, with absolutely no way to intervene in whatever he did, unless we could prove that what he was doing was unconstitutional."
"We were basically creating an economic czar, someone who comes out of the same segment of the economy that got us into this problem to begin with," he said.
As for the role of politics in lawmakers' decisions, Yarmuth said: "When you get the magnitude of responses that most of us have gotten from their constituents, whether it's election season or not, you're going to give that special attention...we all were getting overwhelming opposition to this bailout plan. We've gotten calls this afternoon, saying thank you for doing that even though people have been watching the stock market go down and seeing some of the value of their investments go down..."
"I never heard so many people in the course of the last week say, 'If this vote costs me my job, so be it.' Without question, people understood the gravity of this situation and the magnitude of the problem, and nobody put politics above what they considered their sincere concern for what was the best course of action."
Yarmuth said that among those who have contacted his office, 965 people were against the plan, with 60 for it.
"Most said, 'Don't reward those people on Wall Street. Don't bail them out,'" Yarmuth said.
The Louisville lawmaker said he would like to see more help for homeowners in a rescue plan.
"The only thing under this bill that the government had the power to do was to encourage lenders to renegotiate mortgages with people who were in trouble - but there was no mandate, no mechanism for doing that," Yarmuth said.
He also wanted a provision that would allow bankruptcy court judges to change the terms of mortgages. That is now allowed under existing law.
Yarmuth also wanted to create automatic fees on securities transactions to make sure the rescue plan did not cost the taxpayers money.
On what happens next with the plan, Yarmuth said "there is a way to save it...I am confident that the government will do something...I think the government does need to act."
"My primary concern is to make sure that the credit markets are flowing, so that small businesses and individuals have access to the credit they need, whether it's buy a car, buy a refrigerator or, a small business, to borrow money for inventory and make payroll," Yarmuth said.
Editor's comment: Another Congressman deserving of another "high five".
Labels: Economic news, Political economics
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 7:14 PM
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