Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - October 03, 2008)

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I voted against the Iraq war resolution, the PATRIOT Act, the FISA Act amendments; and I led the opposition to the bankruptcy bill just a few years ago, in each case because I thought we were being railroaded into unwise actions through the use of fear tactics. But I do not believe that to be the case now. Now we face a very real crisis.

The credit markets are shutting down. People will not be able to get car loans, loans for store inventories. There will be thousands of bank failures, millions of job losses. I believe we stand now literally on the brink of the abyss, and that we haven't seen such a situation since 1931.

This is in many ways a weak bill. There should have been far more help for people facing foreclosures. There should have been bankruptcy reforms. There should have been real revenues to pay for it. There should have been a real stimulus to the economy. But this is the only bill that could be agreed upon now.

We are not sure this bill will solve the crisis, but it might. It will buy us time for a better solution. As between a certainty of catastrophe and a possibility of averting that catastrophe, I will vote for the possibility of averting the catastrophe. I urge everyone else to do so.

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