Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Moore Expresses Concerns Over Rescue Packages

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U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore emerged from a congressional hearing today on the impact of the recently approved $700 billion economic bailout deeply worried that the money won't be enough to fix the nation's financial troubles.

"How far is the $700 billion going to go?" she said. "Where's the bottom?"

Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat who serves on the House Financial Services Committee, said she was concerned that White House officials would ask Congress to approve another financial rescue package to deal with a number of issues, including problems posed by credit default swaps.

The swaps, insurance against defaults on risky investments, make up a roughly $65 trillion industry, she noted. Those kinds of derivative contracts were largely responsible for American International Group's troubles.

At the hearing today, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended their administration of the bailout program a week after officials admitted they abandoned their original plans for the financial rescue package.

Moore did not get a chance to ask questions of the Bush administration officials. She said in an interview afterward that she was less focused on the fact that Bush administration officials are using some of the rescue money in ways not outlined in the bailout legislation approved in October.

"I'm not stunned or surprised that they moved in a different direction," she said.

But she expressed concern that government officials take steps that will help American taxpayers. She also cautioned against using funds approved for the rescue package to bail out the U.S. auto industry, as company officials are urging Congress to do. Any money to help the auto industry should come out of separate funds and come with certain conditions, such as improving gas mileage standards for cars they will manufacture in the future, she said.

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