(This article has been updated.)
Most analysts agree that the
Here are their responses:
U.S. Senate race
Republican Steve Pearce said he opposes the bailout plan.
“The proposed reform establishes a dangerous precedent. If the proposal is not effective — and there is no guarantee from its proponents that it will be — the financial sector will be back at the government trough for trillions more in bailouts,” Pearce said. “It will lead to dramatic tax increases — perhaps several thousands of dollars per taxpayer — and I believe we should be moving in a different direction to avoid that outcome.”
Democrat Tom Udall said the Bush administration’s bailout proposal “needs significant changes.”
“First, any plan that puts taxpayer money at risk must ensure that taxpayers get paid back before shareholders, bondholders or executives — so that corporate CEOs do not get a golden parachute while taxpayers are left to pay the bill,” Udall said. “Additionally, Congress should act further to keep Americans in their homes by addressing the crisis in the mortgage industry as well as the one in the financial sector. Any economic package that allows tens of thousands of Americans to lose their homes is simply inadequate.”
Udall also called for greater accountability, saying taxpayer dollars must be spent “effectively and efficiently.”
“No administration should be given unlimited authority over the spending of $700 billion or more of taxpayers’ dollars,” Udall said. “Any bailout plan needs to ensure that those managing the bailout are responsible to Congress and the American people.”
Pearce raised a question on many people’s minds: “Why is the federal government bailing out billionaires who knowingly made risky decisions?”
“The federal government doesn’t bail average Americans out of their school loans, car payments or mortgages. If we expect average Americans to make good decisions and own up to them, we certainly should expect the same of Wall Street,” Pearce said.
Udall blamed the financial crisis on the Bush administration “and its allies in Congress,” who he said “have allowed Wall Street to gamble with
He also called on President Bush to address the nation “and explain the perfect storm of policies and market effects” that have led to the crisis. Following Udall’s call, Bush announced that he will address the nation tonight.
Pearce said the financial sector needs to be “held accountable by the appropriate oversight agencies, Congress and the American people,” and called for the updating of regulations “to reflect new market investment vehicles.”
“Companies must bear the responsibility for risk, not taxpayers. We need to institute responsible limits on leveraging so financial institutions are not allowed to overextend. Transparency must be increased so investors have access to accurate and timely information. Free-market tax incentives should be considered rather than the collective government solution,” Pearce said. “Further, we should not reward the greed exercised by executives who walked away with millions of dollars in bonuses by giving the bill to taxpayers. Those who took the risk and drove their companies into the ground should be responsible for the consequences.”
1st Congressional District race
Democrat Martin Heinrich said a bailout plan “needs to address the struggles of middle-class New Mexican families on
“A comprehensive package needs to include significant reforms to our current regulatory system, hold accountable those responsible for this financial crisis and pay back American taxpayers for any loan granted as a part of the rescue,” Heinrich said.
Republican Darren White called for bipartisan work to address the financial crisis and said the goals of any proposal “should focus on protecting the taxpayer, reforming and securing our financial institutions and keeping as many Americans in their own homes as possible.”
“We need to stabilize our markets and economy, secure our pensions and retirement accounts, protect taxpayers, homeowners and the middle-class families and provide the atmosphere where hard-working New Mexicans can still receive student loans, car loans, credit cards and mortgages,” White said. “Delay in resolving these difficult issues only invites more uncertainty and further market instability, which puts pressure on our already strained economy.”
With any recovery plan, White said, Congress should insist “on strict accountability and stringent oversight and monitoring, and pass along any profits from the proposal back to the American taxpayer through debt reduction, not to CEOs.” He said he “fully” endorses the proposal to cap CEO compensation.
Heinrich blamed the crisis on “eight years of failed economic policies of the Bush administration,” and said the bailout proposal “unloads yet another burden onto the backs of hard-working New Mexicans. Darren White agreed with George W. Bush’s economic policies and supports more of the same for our nation’s economy.”
“It’s time for a change. It’s time for economic policies that help middle-class
White said he is “disappointed that my opponent has once again made a national crisis into a partisan game. He has decided to put partisan politics ahead of what is in the best interests of New Mexicans.” White said the nation needs “independent leadership… not more partisan bickering.”
2nd Congressional District race
Democrat Harry Teague’s communications director, Alex Cole, said the real question “is how we got to this point. This administration let Wall Street run wild. With better oversight and enforcement from the beginning, we could have avoided this mess.”
“Unfortunately, the government does need to infuse some money into some of these investment institutions to prevent a total meltdown of the financial markets and our economy,” Cole said. “The details of the bill before Congress are still being worked out, so we don’t have a comment on the legislation. But Congress must not write Wall Street a blank check. The private investors and corporate CEOs who made bad investment decisions should pay the price, not taxpayers.”
Republican Ed Tinsley’s spokesman, Jim Pettit, said Tinsley “wants to make sure that taxpayers in southern
“Homeowners here, by and large, played by the rules and should not be bailing out corporate executives, Wall Street and reckless speculators in places like
Teague, in a statement released by Cole, said Tinsley “wants continued tax cuts for the wealthy Wall Street CEOs who dragged us into this mess. We need middle-class tax relief to help those families on the other end, those who are struggling to keep their homes from being foreclosed upon.”
Pettit said Tinsley’s focus in Congress “will be long-term reform of our nation’s financial system — starting with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The time for privatized gains and socialized losses for these two credit giants needs to end shortly after the 111th Congress gets sworn in.” He said “job one” to improve the economy is an energy plan that increases domestic drilling.
3rd Congressional District race
Democrat Ben Ray Luján said there’s no doubt that the economy is in trouble, “but we cannot be held hostage by a hastily developed proposal that lacks oversight and ignores working families.”
“There are more questions than answers in the administration’s proposal,” he said. “It lacks scope and specifics. We should not hand the administration a $700 billion blank check without oversight in place.”
Luján said a plan must protect taxpayers and must ensure that CEOs of bailed-out companies can’t dump their stock and make millions in taxpayer money. It must also include accountability and safeguards and aim to keep people in their homes. In addition, Luján said the system “that put us in this position” must be reformed.
“Theses are serious times, and we must make sure that a proposal will get our economy back on track,” Luján said. “We have to protect people, stand up to the failed economic policies that created our financial crisis, hold people accountable, protect taxpayers, provide more oversight and make sure federal regulators are doing their jobs.”
Independent Carol Miller, meanwhile, said both parties are to blame for the current situation, and they’re now rushing “to prop up stock brokerages, banks, insurance companies — and now the automakers — before they adjourn for the year.”
“No good legislation has ever been passed in a rush without time to hold hearings, hear from constituents or even carefully read the bill in its quickly changing versions,” she said.
Miller said it’s time for “trickle-up economics.” If there’s money “to bail out the richest corporations and wealthiest people in the country,” she said, then a plan should also include universal health care, government financing for college education, a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, the development and funding of a “national affordable housing plan” and an increase in the minimum wage “to a living wage that will keep fulltime workers out of poverty with a chance to get ahead.”
Republican Dan East’s campaign said a statement will be forthcoming.
Update, 2:40 p.m.
East said Congress needs “to put their partisanship aside and get down to working and doing what is right for the American people. We need a plan that will shore up the housing markets. This plan must have provisions that give the government the ability to recover the investment so the American people are not saddled with additional debt.”
He said he wouldn’t comment on the proposed bailout until he sees the final plan, but said it should “address the troubled mortgage related securities only, and not all financial instruments.”
“This is where our current leaders in Congress can either shine or make another mess of the situation,” East said. “Congress must address this issue by itself and not tag on other programs and earmarks.”
East said the crisis needs “careful analysis of the improprieties so we can learn from these mistakes and not make them again. Future security will come from smart investments, cutting wasteful government spending and stopping the borrowing for programs that do not bring a value back to the American people. The regulations and deregulations within our financial markets require review and modifications to fit our society today.”