Bailout Bill Passes

Bridget Barry Caswell - WCAX News
October 3, 2008

Washington, D.C. - The controversial bailout bill is now law. The U.S. House gave final approval to the $700 billion plan on a vote of 263 to 171. And President Bush wasted no time signing the bill into law.

Vermont Congressman Peter Welch was one of the 228 lawmakers who voted no to an earlier version of the bill. Friday, he voted yes after senators added some safeguards.

"My goal is two things. One is to protect Vermont jobs, Vermont businesses and Vermont savings. Number two, I want to protect the taxpayer. To govern is to choose and we got to the end of the road. I fought the last two weeks to get the best possible bill and used every ounce of my energy to get it -- and we had to choose yes or no and in favor of the taxpayer and in favor of the economy. The right decision in my mind was to vote yes on this," said Welch, D-Vermont.

All eyes were on the Capitol Friday afternoon as Welch and his colleagues approved the new version of the historic bill. The revised measure includes a phasing in of the $700 billion, a crackdown on golden parachutes for departing business executives, and an expansion of the limits on federally insured deposits.

All week, the Bush Administration and members of Congress warned of dire consequences if a bill could not be approved and some economists in Vermont agree that taxpayers will ultimately benefit from the bailout.

"I think what I'd tell the average Joe on the street is because of what the House did today, your job is more secure, the value of your house is more stable, we've prevented a major economic recession because of what the House did today," said Jane Knodell, a UVM economics professor.

"So our businesses -- UVM, Norwich University, manufacturing facilities -- are having a hard time getting access to credit and we have a $13 trillion economic engine in this country and without credit it's as though you take oil and lubrication out of the engine and it seizes up and it could be catastrophic," Welch said.

Vermont's entire congressional delegation did not support the bailout bill. Like Welch, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, also voted yes. But Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, voted no. Sanders says the burden will fall on the middle class and the bill does little to solve the foreclosure crisis.

Welch is the only representative from our area who changed his vote since Monday. New Hampshire Democrat Paul Hodes voted no; New York Republican John McHugh yes; and New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand no-- the exact same results as earlier this week.