Tag Archives: ellsworth

Auto Bailout Passes House

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The auto bailout for the Big 3 (Chrysler, Ford, GM), worth $14 billion of assistance, passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 237-170. Here’s how Indiana’s Congressmen voted:

For
Andre Carson (D)
Joe Donnelly (D)
Brad Ellsworth (D)
Baron Hill (D)
Pete Visclosky (D)
Steve Buyer (R)
Mark Souder (R)

Against
Dan Burton (R)
Mike Pence (R)

The bill now heads to the Senate. Indiana’s junior Senator Evan Bayh (D) has this to say:

“We’re faced with trying to choose the best among unpalatable alternatives. Nobody wanted to give money to the banks or to the insurance companies, and nobody wants to give money to the auto industry. I don’t. But if the alternative is losing hundreds of thousands of jobs and having automakers, dealerships, part suppliers, and other retailers in local communities go down, we have to make a hard choice here.

“People think the economy is bad now, but if we let all these companies go belly up, and all those folks get laid off, I’m afraid it would be much worse.

“Indiana has a huge stake in this debate. If the big auto companies go down and thousands of jobs are lost, it’s going to hit us a lot harder than almost any place else in the country."

Economic Stabilization Bill Passes House, Bush to Sign

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The U.S. House of Representatives just passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 by a tally of 263 to 171.

Republicans who said they would switch their votes from "no" to "yes" included Rep. Howard Cobble, R-N.C., and Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C. In a statement, Myrick said, "We’re on the cusp of a complete catastrophic credit meltdown. There is no liquidity in the market. We are out of time. Either you believe that fact, or you don’t. I do."

Indiana’s Congressmen voted as follows:

Yay
Andre Carson (D)
Joe Donnelly (D)
Brad Ellsworth (D)
Mark Souder (R)

Nay
Dan Burton (R)
Steve Buyer (R)
Mike Pence (R)
Baron Hill (D)
Pete Visclosky (D)

Both Indiana Senators Richard Lugar (R) and Evan Bayh (D) voted for the bill in the Senate, where it passed 74-25.

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., cast a reluctant “yes” vote.

“As distasteful as it is for Congress to take this action, doing nothing would likely make things much worse,” he said in a statement. “Once we have dealt with the present crisis, we must channel our anger into making sure this never, ever happens again.”

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., also voted for the bill.

“Failure to pass (this) legislation would lead to massive unemployment and failure of small business and farming operations in Indiana,” he said in a statement. “That is unacceptable.”

Bailout Supporters and Detractors

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No matter what side of yesterday’s great bailout debate you were on, you’d probably like to know how Indiana’s Congressmen voted, so here goes:

Voted Against:

Dan Burton (R)
Mike Pence (R)
Steve Buyer (R)
Pete Visclosky (D)
Andre Carson (D)
Baron Hill (D)

Voted For:

Joe Donnelly (D)
Brad Ellsworth (D)
Mark Souder (R)

(Hat tip to Hoosier Access.)

Ultimately, the $700 billion bailout was defeated 228-205. Indiana Congressman Mike Pence’s quote in a Bloomberg article was also highlighted in today’s Drudge Report:

"The American People rejected this bill and now Congress did likewise," Pence said.