Maryland senators and congressmen, along with their colleagues on Capitol Hill, share common concerns about the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion emergency bailout of financial institutions.
State lawmakers want no blank check for the Treasury secretary without oversight; they want no golden parachutes for executives of troubled firms; they want to see help for Main Street as well as Wall Street, and they want a return to tighter regulation.
“We recognize that we’ve got to do something, but there is no confidence that they’ll use the kind of tools they’re asking for” in the right way, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., told The Examiner. He said he agrees with the constituents who are angry about how the crisis has been handled.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., gave full throat to the anger and mistrust in a speech on the Senate floor Monday night.
“Americans are mad as hell and they want to know, what about them?” Mikulski said. “This proposal gives sweeping authority to those who were asleep at the switch in the first place.
“We need to put people first, to keep people in their homes,” Mikulski continued. “No golden parachutes that reward executives for their excesses, their recklessness and their sheer stupidity and greed. No blank checks — there must be accountability and oversight. Rescue does require reform, regulation and a strong possibility of retribution.”
Click here to hear Mikulski’s full speech from the Senate floor.
For Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., the No. 1 priority is to “Bring back a level of confidence in the stock market” and other financial institutions. By doing that, “We’re helping to invest in America.”
“We are tackling this crisis on Wall Street because it’s the best way of helping Main Street,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Southern Maryland said in a speech Tuesday night.
“This is not a bailout but a buy-in,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on WBAL radio Wednesday morning. “We want to insulate Main Street from the crisis on Wall Street.
“An independent board will be in this legislation … to rein in the power of the [Treasury] secretary,” said Pelosi, a Baltimore native who was in town Tuesday to promote her new book.
None of the 10 members of Congress from Maryland is on the two committees hashing out the details of the rescue plan. But Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., at a hearing by the Joint Economic Committee told Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, “We will not just rubber-stamp a request for a $700 billion bailout of irresponsible corporations.”
Six month ago, “I specifically asked you what you thought needed to be done to achieve economic stability, and you remained silent,” Cummings chided Bernanke.
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, the Western Maryland Republican, is “deeply skeptical about the administration proposal” and particularly the push to pass it this week, according to his aide Lisa Wright.
