Texas Reps Ted Poe and Sheila Jackson Lee on the same side in the “Wall Street ‘Fat Cat’ bailout.” How can that be. The end time must be near.
WASHINGTON — If you want to understand why the carefully crafted economic bailout deal crashed and burned on the House floor Monday, look no further than the Houston-area congressional delegation.
Eight of the region’s nine representatives — ranging from some of the most liberal in the Congress to the most conservative — rejected last-minute pleas from President Bush and each party’s leadership to approve a plan that evoked more anger than loyalty, even among its supporters.
To a person, the lawmakers said that as much as they fear a potential downturn in the economy, they rejected what they saw as a flawed plan that would reward the people most responsible for the nation’s economic ills.
“Today, I stood victorious with the American people and voted no to defeat the Wall Street ‘Fat Cat’ bailout,” said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, an early and vociferous foe of the $700 billion bailout sought by Bush. “The government has no authority to force American taxpayers to ante up a $700 billion ransom to save the hides of the rich robber barons on Wall Street.”
From the left, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said she balked at the deal because it represented “an unprecedented and unabridged power shift” to the Treasury secretary that left ”Mr. and Mrs. Main Street” on the curb.
“I was not prepared to transfer so much power to the secretary of the Treasury, even as hard as the Democratic leadership worked to fix the administration’s plan,” Jackson Lee said.
