The good news: the House refused to rush as per Paulson and Bush’s crazy ‘let us take your $700 Billion in taxes and run with it.’ The bad news: if you own stock, the floor just caved in. NY Times article excerpt:“The vote was a catastrophic political defeat for President Bush, who had put the full weight of the White House behind the measure and had lobbied wavering Republicans in intensely personal telephone calls on Monday morning.

“We put forth a plan that was big because we got a big problem,” the president said afterward. “And we’ll be working with members of Congress, leaders of Congress on the way forward. Our strategy is to continue to address this economic situation head on.”

The president was described as “very disappointed” by a spokesman, Tony Fratto. Mr. Bush’s disappointment may have been deepened by the fact that members of his own party voted against the package by more than 2 to 1.”

From my homestate of Colorado’s Mark Udall, whom I greatly admire:
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Dear Citizen,

Today I voted “No” on the $700 Billion bailout package.
 
My first responsibility is to Colorado families and taxpayers. I take very seriously the warnings about how conditions in the credit markets could affect the overall economy.  However, the cost of this bailout was too high and the return far too uncertain for the American families who were being asked to bear the burden.

I’ve always said that any response to this economic crisis must adhere to four core principles: no blank checks for the mistakes of Wall Street and the Bush Administration; a real crackdown on excessive executive compensation; help for small businesses and Main Street America; and strong taxpayer protections.
 
Unfortunately, while today’s bailout proposal came closer to satisfying these principles than the blank check originally sought by the administration, it remains an incomplete response. 
 
This bill does nothing to begin the fundamental reform that is needed to fix the broken financial system that led us to this crisis.  Washington is painfully slow to make fundamental reforms except in times of extreme duress and real public outrage, so we must make sure this opportunity leads to real reforms to the laws governing our markets, financial institutions, and their regulation.
 
I cannot accept a solution that risks $700 billion to bail out the boat, but does nothing to patch up the hole.
 
I have listened to the warnings of many people in the last week about the condition of our credit markets, and I understand that we are in a grave situation.  But these happen to be the very same people who not long ago rejected government intervention and told us that our financial sector was in good order.
 
We must take more time, work together, and bring forth a measure that garners broader support in Colorado and across the country. We must respond to the economic crisis with a bill that offers more relief for homeowners facing foreclosure, develops a better oversight structure, and institutes stronger reform measures to prevent such a crisis from happening ever again.
 
I look forward to continuing to work with Democrats and Republicans in Congress towards this end.
 
Sincerely,

Mark Udall Get all your Udall for Colorado gear at: http://store.markudall.com