Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Floor Speech

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

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the chairman for yielding.

Madam Speaker and Members of this House, I said that last Monday would be a day of consequence. It was a day of consequence. We have been criticized as a body for not deciding affirmatively on Monday. What we did decide, however, was that initial failure should not stand because the crisis confronting our country was too great. And Republicans and Democrats together, administration and Congress, chairman and ranking member, each individual Member decided that failure was not an option.

On Monday, the dividing line in this House was not between parties--it was between those who believed the dangers of doing nothing outweighed their
reservation about Monday's bill and those who had yet to be convinced.

Since then, I believe that the number of the convinced that this action is essential has grown. Some were convinced when a vote in the Chamber led to the evaporation of $1.2 trillion of wealth in about 120 seconds; some were convinced when they heard that America lost another 159,00 jobs last month making a total of lost jobs this year of 760,000 jobs. In a similar period 8 years ago, we had gained 1.5 million jobs--a net turnaround of over 2.2 million jobs.

Americans are in trouble. They're expecting us to act.

Some were convinced by the stories like this one from a small town car dealer in Utah. He said this: ``I'm not going to be able to pay my employees next week. I can't get the kind of credit line from the bank that I have had through my entire career unless you do something.''

This bill outreaches not only to minorities but to small businesses as well. And I thank the gentlelady from California for her focus on that issue and Mr. Bachus for his focus on that issue.

What happens on Wall Street is bound up with the jobs of millions on Main Street, and the retirement of millions on Main Street, and the homes of millions in hometown America, and dreams of millions of our fellow Americans.

If disaster strikes those few square miles in Manhattan, it will surely spread until every one of those jobs and retirements and homes and dreams are put at great risk.

This week I've heard from the Prime Ministers of Australia and Japan who are telling us that their people are bracing themselves, worried that America will not rise to the occasion. I am proud to be a Member of this House, and when challenged, I believe this House rises to its responsibilities and I believe it will do so today.

We sing the praises of American leadership, and today, I think we will deserve that praise. This is the responsibility that comes with our duty as Representatives in the people's House. For all of those reasons, this bill is essential.

So many of us have improved the administration's plan, Republicans and Democrats, working together, which came to us as a mere three-page bill, giving essentially a $700 billion blank check to the administration. Republicans and Democrats knew as one that that could not stand.

The heart of the bill remains a plan for the government to buy up bad financial assets, restoring the flow of credit so essential to the growth and maintenance of our economy.

But we fought to ensure that taxpayers will be the first to profit if and when those assets rise again in value, making the true price tag of this bill far, far less than $700 billion.

In fact, Warren Buffett, one of the most successful investors in the history of America, has said this, ``If they do it right, and I think they'll do it reasonably right''--his expectation is that we will do it reasonably right--he said, if we do that, we'll make a lot of money, we being the taxpayers of America.

So we have the opportunity not only to save our economy, to save those dreams of our fellow citizens, but also to make some profit.

In addition, we made sure the financial community will be obligated to pay the taxpayers back for their loan.

We restricted executive compensation because CEOs whose recklessness helped bring on this crisis should not receive taxpayer-subsidized golden parachutes or extraordinary salaries.

We are subjecting the Treasury Secretary's decisions to strong oversight. Republicans and Democrats together agreed that that should be done.

Finally, we will help homeowners renegotiate their mortgages to prevent a further flood of 2 million projected foreclosures. That's what this bill is about. That is the action we are asked to take today.

On Wednesday, the Senate raised Federal insurance of bank accounts from $100,000 to $250,000, and also chose to add several tax cuts. I personally believe that raising the FDIC can be argued on both sides of the question, but certainly, it ought to stabilize our local banks. However, as all of you know, I strongly disagree with adding those tax provisions because the Senate has chosen to finance them with debt.

This crisis is making it painfully clear the dangers of fiscal recklessness and that debt does indeed matter. A lesson, in my opinion, the Senate has ignored.

But an emergency like this calls for the courage to compromise. On Monday, Chairman Frank said, ``If we aren't prepared to accept some of the things we don't like, we will not have the power to deliver for the people we care about.'' The chairman was absolutely right. For me, those people are families unable to take out a loan to buy an appliance or pay for college. They are Americans who have worked their whole lives only to see their retirement accounts threatened. They are the millions of workers fearing a pink slip they did nothing to earn. For their sake, for their sake, we must act.

I urge all of us to pass this legislation. I urge all of us to vote for this legislation. I know there will be some who will not vote for this legislation. I want them to know that I respect their judgment. We have a difference of opinion.

On Monday, America was deeply divided, and their representative body, not surprisingly, was deeply divided. In the last 4 days, Americans in small towns, on farms, in urban areas and suburban areas have reflected upon the consequences of inaction, and while they have not come to the universal thought that we ought to pass this bill, they have told us in the strongest terms we expect the people's House to act in a way that they think best to save our economy, to protect our dreams, to make America whole again.

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