By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Sept. 30, 2008 – Black lawmakers found themselves evenly divided over their support for the $700 billion rescue package that was defeated Monday.  The bill’s failure sent shockwaves from Washington to Wall Street, and the Stock Market dropped 700 points by its close on Monday.

The lawmakers who opposed the bill wanted more for Main Street and less for the financial institutions that created the crisis. Opponents of the bill expressed growing concerns that there wasn’t enough consumer protection and bankruptcy reform, and wanted to see more efforts to explore other options. 

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) was one of those Black lawmakers who opposed the bill. “We are dealing with three separate problems: illiquidity in the credit market; insolvency of some financial institutions; and the hardship of homeowners,” he posted in this blog Monday afternoon.

“If we [Congress] limited purchasing prices to fair value, we could purchase assets, re-establish confidence, wait for the markets to reinvigorate and the private sector could then buy assets back from the government,” he said.

Scott wasn’t alone; 21 of the 42 members of the Congressional Black Caucus opposed the bill in its current form and joined ranks with an unusual coalition of conservative Republicans.

Rep. Mike Rogers, (R-Mich.), told The Associated Press, “Despite days of negotiating, this is still the same bailout bill, written by a Wall Street guy with a Wall Street solution to a problem created on Wall Street.  This bill was still a blank check to Henry Paulson.”

It’s always difficult for lawmakers to pass legislation in an election year, but this crisis has given them no choice. Both presidential candidates weighed in on the process but netted very little impact on the outcome.

Some members of Congress were feeling the heat and polls taken in recent days showed widespread public opposition wasn’t favoring the enormous bailout with taxpayer money.

The question now is whether either side can get the votes needed to pass the bill. 
 

TAGS: rep. bobby scott

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