Red Rock On Air

Monday, Congressman Oberstar made the following remarks about the Bush Administration’s proposal to address the financial crisis:

“This week, Congress will move decisively to pass a bipartisan bill to address the extraordinary crisis in our financial markets. At stake is the ability of our nation’s major financial institutions to continue operating in a manner that allows for growth in our economy. Without a rescue package, economic activity will slow to a crawl and every American will be affected.

However, the urgency of this situation does not abrogate the duty of Congress to protect the interests of taxpayers. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has delivered a three-page request to Congress asking for the authority to spend $700 billion to purchase bad loans from Wall Street investment banks. Most Americans have to submit more paperwork to get a home loan. I am also concerned that the Bush Administration’s proposal will give too much spending authority to the Treasury Secretary without enough transparency and accountability.

I am committed to working with the administration to make this proposal stronger. We need to make certain that none of the bailout money is used to pay for golden parachutes for the Wall Street CEOs who got us into this mess. The rescue package must also include independent oversight and protection for homeowners.

The package Congress will consider this week could drive our national debt to more than $11 trillion, more than double the $5 trillion national debt the nation held when President Bush took office eight years ago. This is the legacy of the failed policy of deregulation of our financial markets that President Bush and the Republican-led Congress have promoted for more than a decade. These misguided policies will leave our children and grandchildren with a stack of bills they will be paying for decades to come.