Here are their responses:<\/p>\n U.S. Senate race<\/span><\/p>\n Republican Steve Pearce<\/a> said he opposes the bailout plan.<\/p>\n Democrat Tom Udall<\/a> said the Bush administration\u2019s bailout proposal \u201cneeds significant changes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFirst, 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,\u201d Udall said. \u201cAdditionally, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo administration should be given unlimited authority over the spending of $700 billion or more of taxpayers\u2019 dollars,\u201d Udall said. \u201cAny bailout plan needs to ensure that those managing the bailout are responsible to Congress and the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n Pearce raised a question on many people\u2019s minds: \u201cWhy is the federal government bailing out billionaires who knowingly made risky decisions?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe federal government doesn\u2019t 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,\u201d Pearce said.<\/p>\n Udall blamed the financial crisis on the Bush administration \u201cand its allies in Congress,\u201d who he said \u201chave allowed Wall Street to gamble with He also called on President Bush to address the nation \u201cand explain the perfect storm of policies and market effects\u201d that have led to the crisis. Following Udall\u2019s call, Bush announced that he will address the nation tonight<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pearce said the financial sector needs to be \u201cheld accountable by the appropriate oversight agencies, Congress and the American people,\u201d and called for the updating of regulations \u201cto reflect new market investment vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCompanies 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,\u201d Pearce said. \u201cFurther, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 1st Congressional District race<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA 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,\u201d Heinrich said.<\/p>\n Republican Darren White<\/a> called for bipartisan work to address the financial crisis and said the goals of any proposal \u201cshould focus on protecting the taxpayer, reforming and securing our financial institutions and keeping as many Americans in their own homes as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n With any recovery plan, White said, Congress should insist \u201con 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.\u201d He said he \u201cfully\u201d endorses the proposal to cap CEO compensation.<\/p>\n Heinrich blamed the crisis on \u201ceight years of failed economic policies of the Bush administration,\u201d and said the bailout proposal \u201cunloads yet another burden onto the backs of hard-working New Mexicans. Darren White agreed with George W. Bush\u2019s economic policies and supports more of the same for our nation\u2019s economy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time for a change. It\u2019s time for economic policies that help middle-class White said he is \u201cdisappointed 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.\u201d White said the nation needs \u201cindependent leadership\u2026 not more partisan bickering.\u201d<\/p>\n 2nd Congressional District race<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, 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,\u201d Cole said. \u201cThe details of the bill before Congress are still being worked out, so we don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHomeowners 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 \u201cwants 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Pettit said Tinsley\u2019s focus in Congress \u201cwill be long-term reform of our nation\u2019s financial system — starting with Freddie Mac<\/a> and Fannie Mae<\/a>. The time for privatized gains and socialized losses for these two credit giants needs to end shortly after the 111th Congress gets sworn in.\u201d He said \u201cjob one\u201d to improve the economy is an energy plan that increases domestic drilling.<\/p>\n 3rd Congressional District race Democrat Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n<\/a> said there\u2019s no doubt that the economy is in trouble, \u201cbut we cannot be held hostage by a hastily developed proposal that lacks oversight and ignores working families.\u201d<\/p>\n Luj\u00e1n said a plan must protect taxpayers and must ensure that CEOs of bailed-out companies can\u2019t 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, Luj\u00e1n said the system \u201cthat put us in this position\u201d must be reformed.<\/p>\n \u201cTheses are serious times, and we must make sure that a proposal will get our economy back on track,\u201d Luj\u00e1n said. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Miller said it\u2019s time for \u201ctrickle-up economics.\u201d If there\u2019s money \u201cto bail out the richest corporations and wealthiest people in the country,\u201d 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 \u201cnational affordable housing plan\u201d and an increase in the minimum wage \u201cto a living wage that will keep fulltime workers out of poverty with a chance to get ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n Republican Dan East\u2019s<\/a> campaign said a statement will be forthcoming.<\/p>\n \n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SNqZjVKYZvI\/AAAAAAAAIy0\/aBM7sktk2R4\/s200\/Pearce,+Steve.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cThe 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,\u201d Pearce said. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SNqZjzRVtdI\/AAAAAAAAIy8\/nhQQDC1GcfM\/s200\/Udall,+Tom.jpg\")
<\/a>Udall also called for greater accountability, saying taxpayer dollars must be spent \u201ceffectively and efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SNqZQWTOKWI\/AAAAAAAAIys\/0JlfzKQJfYs\/s200\/Heinrich,+Martin.jpg\")
<\/a>Democrat Martin Heinrich<\/a> said a bailout plan \u201cneeds to address the struggles of middle-class New Mexican families on ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SNqZP6emAuI\/AAAAAAAAIyk\/m-3osSoH9QY\/s200\/White,+Darren.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cWe 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,\u201d White said. \u201cDelay in resolving these difficult issues only invites more uncertainty and further market instability, which puts pressure on our already strained economy.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SNqY8X1fPSI\/AAAAAAAAIyU\/Pb9fxg_8T58\/s200\/Teague,+Harry.jpg\")
<\/a>Democrat Harry Teague\u2019s<\/a> communications director, Alex Cole, said the real question \u201cis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SNqY_c8hW3I\/AAAAAAAAIyc\/H_hlZPpYOWI\/s200\/Tinsley,+Ed.jpg\")
<\/a>Republican Ed Tinsley\u2019s<\/a> spokesman, Jim Pettit, said Tinsley \u201cwants to make sure that taxpayers in southern
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<\/a>\u201cThere are more questions than answers in the administration\u2019s proposal,\u201d he said. \u201cIt lacks scope and specifics. We should not hand the administration a $700 billion blank check without oversight in place.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SNqYlPgQEfI\/AAAAAAAAIyM\/ZsUEeGloNJk\/s200\/Miller,+Carol.jpg\")
<\/a>Independent Carol Miller<\/a>, meanwhile, said both parties are to blame for the current situation, and they\u2019re now rushing \u201cto prop up stock brokerages, banks, insurance companies — and now the automakers — before they adjourn for the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Update, 2:40 p.m.<\/p>\n