The US House of Representatives voted 263-171 to pass the Senate version of the so-called “Financial Economic Stabilization Act of 2008” which was meant to bail out Wall Street and get the credit markets moving again. Rep Jim Jordan (R-Urbana) once again voted against the bail out and once again for no apparent reason other than “free market” reasons.
Washington, DC — Today, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Urbana) issued the following statement on the treasury bailout.
“I understand that there are serious concerns in our financial markets and that it was appropriate for government to attempt to help.
Unfortunately, Washington, as it all too often does, chose a big government “solution,” rather than an “American” solution. Instead of looking to address the concern in a free-market fashion, this tax-and-spend Congress chose to spend $700 billion dollars, the equivalent of one quarter of the federal budget, on a Wall Street bailout.
Washington and Wall Street caused the situation, which is already hurting American families. Now, those same American families are asked to provide the dollars to fix it.
This legislation took our debt limit to $11.3 trillion dollars, proving that this is the wrong approach.
I will continue to protect taxpayers and families from the excessive spending habits of a Congress that is in need of fiscal responsibility.”
No suggestions of what he would do differently, only he didn’t like a big government solution.
In his official statement on why he voted against the first version of the bill he does offer one suggestion:
My support is with an alternative plan that would utilize private capital to solve the problem far better than government bureaucrats. By removing the barriers to risk-taking and investment, and providing a government-backed insurance program as a safety net, we would be laying the groundwork to avoid future problems.
The problem with a private capital solution was the time factor and regulations. People who watch the credit markets said that the credit contraction going on on Wall Street would land on Main Street as early as Monday if nothing was done. That means some small businesses would be forced to close because they couldn’t meet their payroll. Some larger companies would come next and then you would see the free fall.
Also those with billions on the side lines would be wary of buying too much which would cause some banking regulations to kick in.
Jordan’s solution might work as a long term solution but the economy might have collapsed before it was set up. The bail out bill at least puts a cork in the free fall allowing for more time to fix the problem.
If Jordan seemed to understand that he might not have voted against the bill. It also seems he might not have read the bill since it includes an insurance program – to be funded with risk-based premiums paid by the industry as printed in Section 102 of the final bill.
