A Note From Zoe

October 3, 2008

Many have claimed that this bill is a bailout for Wall Street, in reality this is about protecting the entire American economy. Over the past week it’s become clear that we are facing an unprecedented freeze up of the world’s credit markets. These credit markets are the life blood of the global economy, without them economic activity slows to a crawl.

Within the last two days, California’s Governor and Treasurer have both noted that without access to credit, the state will not be able to meet its financial obligations by the end of the month. The outcome for the state is dire, with teachers, police officers, nursing homes staff, and countless other state and local government employees will go unpaid.

Wall Street’s failures have now spread throughout the economy. The everyday transactions that keep businesses open and our lives moving forward are now threatened. Credit for payroll, inventory, and capital improvements has dried up. Students seeking loans are finding few open doors. Farmers buying feed and seed are finding once plentiful credit evaporating.

Faced with this, I joined with a bipartisan majority of the Congress in voting for the economic stabilization package. While far from perfect, and loaded with many distasteful additions from the Senate, I felt compelled to vote for this bill. In the end, the necessity to act overwhelmed the distaste for this package. Without its passage, I fear that we could have seen a devastating downward spiral of economic disaster.

Our nation has a hard road ahead, and this bill is only the first in a series that will be needed to reinforce our economy and restore sensible regulation to our financial sector. I’m confident that this great nation will weather this storm and unite under new leadership.