The Duncan Banner - Inhofe Visits Duncan

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The Duncan Banner - Inhofe Visits Duncan

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., visited Duncan on a campaign stop Monday morning to talk with supporters, admirers and concerned citizens.

About 30-40 people showed up to listen to Inhofe answer questions from constituents and talk about the upcoming election.

For many people, this election's most important issue is the economy. Inhofe directed his remarks toward this subject by first explaining his nay vote against the recent $700 billion financial institution bailout plan.

There is a section in the plan that states if things aren't better within five years, then tax-payers won't have to foot the bill, but local financial institutions will, Inhofe said.

"So our Oklahoma institutions who weren't a part of the mess will have to bail out the east coast institutions," he said.

"It seems that whenever there is a tough decision to be made, many people in D.C. will vote for something just because they think no one can blame them for it."

When Inhofe was deciding how to vote on the bailout plan, he had a conference call with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as well as calls to banking friends back in Oklahoma, he said.

The basic idea for the bailout plan was to buy damaged assets from financial institutions.

Inhofe asked Paulson who determines which assets were damaged and which institutions needed the bailout.

"Paulson didn't have a reply to that question," Inhofe said.

Paulson did suggest, however, that asset managers, many of whom are currently working on Wall Street, would make that determination, Inhofe said.

Since the bailout became law, regulators have not used the money to purchase damaged assets, he said.

"Instead, they are shoring up the FDIC," Inhofe said.

When Congress reconvenes, it will have an opportunity to further define how to help the economy. Inhofe said one thing he is for is to give a temporary holiday to the capital gains tax.

"We did this in 2004 and we saw money come back into our economy from overseas," he said.

"That's the purpose of the bailout — to increase jobs and savings."

As far as pointing out the root problem of the economic crisis, Inhofe looks much further back than what some may remember.

"The problem started in 1977 with the Community Reinvestment Act that forced banks to make bad loans," he said.

"On May 4, 2006, John McCain came to us and said that there is a problem with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We wrote up the legislation, but it fell flat in committee along party lines."

Those who voted against that original bill, however, now want to get something done before the 2010 elections, Inhofe said.

While he was against the bailout plan on principle, Inhofe does believe that government should spend money on certain things.

"Such as defense and infrastructure," he said.

"I've had opportunities to fly to Africa and Iraq quite a bit and I want to let you know that things are going great in Iraq. You can walk around freely now."

Inhofe said that Iraq used to house a major terrorist training camp called Salman Pak, but is no longer in operation due to the military efforts in Iraq.

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