Washington, DC – Congressman Dale E. Kildee [D-Flint] made the following statement regarding the passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of H.R. 1412, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008:

“I share the anger and outrage of my constituents with the unregulated behavior and unbridled greed of the Wall Street financiers that has created the mess we face today.  Unfortunately, the greed of those on Wall Street is now hurting the lives of those who live on the ‘Main Streets’ of Michigan.  For example, as the credit markets have frozen up, car and truck buyers cannot get loans and as a result, auto sales have plummeted more than 27 percent in the last year.  That hurts people right here in Michigan.

“In the end, there was no alternative to Congress and the President acting quickly to stabilize our credit markets in order to avert a very severe economic downturn.

“While I did not think the Emergency Economic Stabilization bill was perfect, Congress was able to make critically important changes to protect American taxpayers and American homeowners.  The tough oversight and transparency provisions ensure that Congress is not just handing the Administration a blank check.  The bill also gives the taxpayers a share of the profits of participating companies, puts taxpayers first in line to recover assets from failed companies, and requires the President to propose a plan to ensure taxpayers are repaid in full, with Wall Street making up any difference.  Moreover, this bill requires the U.S. Treasury to limit the executive compensation packages, the ‘golden parachutes’, of senior managers with any financial institution which participates in this program.  Finally, we also raised the FDIC insurance on deposits from $100,000 to $250,000.”