DENVER—The final bailout bill passed by Congress Friday didn’t change the minds of anyone in the Colorado delegation.
The final roll call was the same as the vote on Monday’s bill, 4-3.
All three representatives from the Denver area voted for the bailout—Democrats Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter and Republican Tom Tancredo.
Voting no were Republicans Marilyn Musgrave and Doug Lamborn and Democrats Mark Udall and John Salazar.
The final vote total was 263-171 in the House. The measure garnered 58 more votes than Monday’s failed bill.
Colorado congresswoman Diana DeGette says she backed the unprecedented $700 billion bailout even though she thought the Senate had loaded it with pork spending, including a tax break for manufacturers of toy arrows.
“I guess in the end I felt that even though the Senate process offered some pork, we can’t throw away a compromise that will help Americans keep their houses, stay in their jobs, keep their college loans and get credit just because we’re mad about some wooden arrows,” she said.
Both Perlmutter and Tancredo said that while there are parts of the bill they would change, it was the only solution available for a crisis that would worsen if nothing is done.
Those voting against it said they did so because there’s no guarantee it will work and because it failed to address regulatory reform of Wall Street or help distressed homeowners.
“We basically handed over a $700 billion check to the secretary and they haven’t even figured out how they’re going to implement the plan,” Salazar said.
Salazar said lawmakers were rushed into passing the bill and he had hoped Congress would approve the plan in $50 billion increments while Congress stuck around to hammer out a bipartisan reform plan.
Added Lamborn of the overall package: “I think it’s too big of a bite for the taxpayers.”
Democratic Rep. Mark Udall voted against the bill Monday and Friday because he felt it didn’t adequately address the main reason for the financial mess: the mortgage crisis. He said the bailout only encourages, rather than requires, mortgage companies to work with people facing foreclosure.
“That’s just too weak given what people are facing,” Udall said in a conference call with reporters.
“It’s a trickle-down bail out instead of a bottom-up investment,” Udall said.
Musgrave said the plan was the quickest, not the best, and that it doesn’t include regulatory safeguards to ensure similar economic situations don’t happen again.
“Those who don’t learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them,” Musgrave said in a statement. “In this case, the only lesson that we’ve taught Wall Street is that the American taxpayer will be there to bail them out. We shouldn’t reward bad behavior.”
DeGette said there’ll be hearings next week on regulatory reform, but added the measure includes provisions to protect taxpayers, including taxpayer ownership of mortgage-backed securities, elimination of golden parachutes for CEOs, and the ability to impose fees on Wall Street companies should the securities go bad.
“We can look back and very ably predict that it was coming,” Musgrave said in an interview. “We shouldn’t have needed to act hastily when all this happened.”
Tancredo said that the final price tag for the bailout could be significantly less than the $700 billion figure bandied about because of appreciation of the securities to be bought by the government.
Added Perlmutter: “There are plenty of things that could be improved in this bill. On the matter of reform, that’s something we will take up later this year.”
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Associated Press writers Ivan Moreno and Judith Kohler contributed to this report.
