News : CONGRESSMAN JOHN LINDER VOTES "NO" ON BAILOUT BILL  [9/29/2008]
Washington, D.C.-Today, Congressman John Linder (GA-07), along with 227 of his colleagues in the House, voted to reject the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.”  Despite news reports from the weekend that disclosed progress on the “Rescue Plan” devised over the past few weeks with the U.S. Treasury and Congress, Linder said that in his opinion the bill brought to the House floor today failed because it provided only one solution: use taxpayer funds to bailout private companies that behaved irresponsibly.   “Aside from a vote declaring war, today I cast one of the most difficult votes of my tenure as a Congressman.  This so-called emergency did not emerge suddenly.  Instead, it has been a crisis years in the making.  Credit was cheap, individuals spent beyond their means, regulations were lax, and Wall Street inflated values to its own benefit.  A dangerous precedent was established in March when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke became involved in the sale of Bear Stearns when it should have been allowed to fail.  Since then, Congress has allowed these leaders to further embroil the government in private enterprises: first by becoming conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and now in an effort to provide $700 billion of spending authority meant to stabilize our financial markets.”     Linder acknowledged the fear that failure to help Wall Street will freeze credit on Main Street, but said he feels assured that the defeat of this proposal provides more opportunity to explore alternatives.  Linder advocated a more deliberate approach that would provide ample time to entertain the many ideas not even considered by the Democrat Majority.  Many of those ideas were contained in an alternative proposal co-sponsored by Linder that, among its provisions, would have brought back to the U.S. some of the $12 trillion in private capital currently sitting off shore.  The alternative proposal was described by its proponents as a work-out, not a bailout.    Linder concluded, “On every occasion that the government has decided that a handful of real smart people can do better than the millions of small decisions made every day in the market it has failed.  Beginning with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.  The market will cleanse irresponsibility and throwing taxpayer dollars at the problem will simply delay the solution.  We need to take a deep breath.  Markets will do what markets do.  They will reward responsible behavior and punish irresponsible behavior.  Even Congress cannot repeal that law.”   
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