Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - Crisis On Capitol Hill

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Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - Crisis On Capitol Hill

The House voted against a $700 billion bailout for the struggling financial industry Monday, causing stocks to plummet on Wall Street and leaving lawmakers on Capitol Hill scrambling to figure out what to do next.

The 228-205 vote to reject the bill set off such panic in the markets that the Dow Jones industrials plunged 777 points by the close of trading, the most in a single day. Congressional leaders, in an attempt to soothe fears, quickly vowed to keep working to come up with a palatable solution to the financial crisis.

"The legislation has failed. The crisis has not gone away," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said. "We must work in a bipartisan way in order to have another bite at the apple in terms of some legislation."

The House was to reconvene Thursday instead of adjourning for the year as planned.

The vote, which capped a week of intense negotiations over the plan, came as House members were expected to return to their districts Monday to prepare for the November elections. With the elections just five weeks away, though, House leaders were unable to convince enough members to vote for the unpopular measure.

The Wisconsin congressional delegation voted 5-3 to back the plan, with Republican Rep. Paul Ryan joining Democratic Reps. Gwen Moore, David Obey, Tammy Baldwin and Ron Kind in voting for it. Republican Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner and Tom Petri and Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen voted against it.

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Gwen Moore (Milwaukee Democrat): "I couldn't ignore the fact that I thought a perfect storm was forming that would have a catastrophic impact on my constituents. (The poor) would be the first to lose their jobs. This is like a virus that would just spread through the system."

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