Rep. Foster Votes to Protect the Economy

Press Release

Bipartisan Solution Blocked, Stock Market Gets Hammered, Americans Lose Millions in Retirement Funds Foster: We Now Know the Price of Inaction -- $1.2 Trillion Lost Today Alone

Today, in an effort to protect the American economy, Rep. Bill Foster voted to pass H.R. 3997, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The vote failed, and in response the stock market recorded the largest single-day point drop in history.

"Nobody likes the situation we are in, and this bill was far from perfect, but today, in an extremely tough and close vote, I supported the Emergency Economic Stabilization bill to ensure the economic hardships facing our middle-class families and small businesses all over the 14th District would not worsen," Rep. Foster said. "The bill was the tough medicine we needed to get the economy back on solid footing."

After the bill failed, as a result political gamesmanship, the New York Stock Exchange lost 777.78 points or 7%. The NASDAQ lost more than 9 percent. According to Bloomberg News, $1.2 trillion in market value was erased from American equities.

Said Foster, "We now know the price of inaction -- $1.2 trillion lost today alone. You don't have to be a scientist or a businessman to know that the $350 billion we were committing to stabilize the market - with good prospects for most of the money being returned over time -- was a much better deal for Americans than what happened as a result of the bill being defeated."

Concluded Foster, "Now we need to regroup, and I will do whatever it takes to bring responsible members of Congress together so we can find a bipartisan solution that will resuscitate our economy."

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