Congressman Watt Responds to Yesterday's House Vote on the Economic Rescue Package

Press Release

Congressman Mel Watt (12th District of North Carolina) today made the following statement about yesterday's vote on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act:

"The Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve privately described to members of Congress a developing economic and credit crisis that they projected could well be worse than the Great Depression. Under these circumstances it would have been irresponsible not to respond in a constructive way. The Financial Services Committee, on which I serve, started with a proposed "blank check" to this Administration and developed it into a responsible proposal that included oversight, accountability, help for homeowners and reasonable assurance that taxpayers would get all their money back over 5 years. It's unfortunate that the President had neither the communication skills or the credibility to convince the public that a real crisis existed that needed any response at all. It's even more unfortunate that the public will soon see for itself that something really needed to be done."

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