The House of Representatives has passed the revised version of the $700 billion bailout legislation. The vote was 263-171. The Senate passed this bill earlier this week by a vote of 74-25.
Maybe it was inevitable after all.
UPDATE:
Here is the statement of House Minority Leader Boehner:
The passage of this flawed but necessary bill is not cause for celebration.
The financial crisis is not a failure of the free-market system. It is a failure of a broken Washington, and a government culture that allowed executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other firms to run amok, ultimately imperiling our nation’s economy. For years Republicans warned of this danger and advocated reform of these government-sponsored enterprises. And for years such reforms were thwarted by legislators with deep political ties to the worst offenders, putting the companies’ interests ahead of the interests of our country.
House Republicans stood on principle throughout this process. We secured numerous reforms on behalf of American taxpayers, such as raising the FDIC insurance cap, the SEC’s change to mark-to-market rules for certain assets that have worsened the credit crisis, and an insurance program that forces Wall Street to bear a financial burden in the rescue package. Republicans also were successful in stripping from the original Paulson-Democrat bailout plan of its special-interest earmarks for trial lawyers, labor bosses, and thinly-veiled political organizations like ACORN. This significantly improved legislation is much stronger than the initial Paulson plan and protects the interests of families, seniors, small businesses, and all taxpayers.
JOHN adds: It’s a sad day. What’s tragic about the bailout, I think, is that it was rushed through without any meaningful consideration being given to alternatives that almost certainly would have been cheaper, less intrusive and more free market-friendly. All parties bear some blame for this except the House Republicans, who made the only serious effort to put forward an alternative. The administration bears the most responsibility because its original proposal was the template for what followed and because it should have known better. We expect more from Republicans than Democrats, but we don’t always get it.
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