Northshore Conifer posted on April 25, 2010 15:56
Over the past year and a half or so, Congress has spent well more than a trillion dollars on bad bailout programs that have been riddled with a lack of success, oversight and accountability. From the original Wall Street bailout program to the failed auto bailout and the AIG bonus debacle in between, these government subsidies have been completely ineffective while simultaneously bankrupting the taxpayers.
And to top it all off, Congress will soon begin a debate over legislation that would completely overhaul our country’s financial system and establish a permanent bailout fund. The bill that the president and liberals in Congress are trying to push to the Senate floor is a purely partisan approach that gets a lot of the bigger issues wrong.
Most alarming to me is that it sets up a $50 billion fund to pay for future bailouts. This only further feeds the mindset that failing institutions are entitled to taxpayer bailouts. Real financial reform must include ending federal bailout authority and the “Too Big to Fail” mentality, enhancing consumer protection without creating a micromanaging super-bureaucracy, addressing the systemic risk posed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and careless mortgage lending policies and improving coordination and communication among regulators.
We need a bipartisan approach that reins in the financial industry and is targeted on the real problems. We do not need a bill that uses the last financial crisis as an excuse to reach another pre-existing agenda. Congress owes the American people a bill they can support, a bill that will not plunge this country further into debt. I hope such a proposal would become the outline of the approach the Senate adopts as we move forward.
I have been a vocal critic of the bailout programs, and I will not back down from the fight against the growing popularity in Washington to spend, spend, spend Louisiana’s hard-earned tax dollars to salvage failing institutions. While no one argues that we need regulatory reform, we need reform that is zeroed in on the real problems. I will keep fighting to bring some fiscal sense to Washington and to stop this irresponsible spending and future bailouts.
Please let me know about any issues of importance to you and your family by contacting me at any of my state offices or in my Washington office by mail at U.S. Senator David Vitter, U.S. Senate, 516 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510, or by phone at 202-224-4623. You can also reach me on the web athttp://vitter.senate.gov.