Joe's Op-Ed in Today's Hartford Courant on his Vote on the Bailout Package

As Connecticut's only congressional member to vote no on the Economic Stabilization Act, first on Monday and then Friday, I have heard from many concerned citizens from eastern Connecticut and beyond who called to express support, anger and fear about my position.

This financial crisis has afforded me an extraordinary opportunity to hear the challenges that businesses big and small are facing in this weakened economy, and the uncertainty about whether Washington understands the gravity of the situation.

I do understand the enormousness of this crisis — and voted my conscience for what I believe is right for my district and the nation.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson came to the Congress with his emergency request for a $700 billion line of credit to "unclog" the credit markets. I believe he was not exaggerating the danger facing the American economy. Home foreclosures have been accelerating in my district at the highest rate in the state, a real example of damage from the subprime mortgage scourge. The damage from toxic loans that were sold on Main Streets across America by large lenders, not the small banks, is continuing to spread like a virus through our economy.

I was asked to spend nearly $1 trillion of public funds to buy these failing assets with the hope that they will recover value. Yet, the most important questions have not been answered:

What strategy did Paulson propose to stop the increasing mortgage defaults and to stop the continuing slide in real estate values?

How do we prevent another Wall Street bailout when another wave of foreclosures hit neighborhoods nationwide, which is unquestionably coming?

Clearly, standing aside as the White House and previous Congresses have done over the past decade — relying on voluntary efforts by large banks to "work out" foreclosures — has failed. The banks' track record of self-regulation is abysmal. My duty to ensure that the American taxpayers will recover their investment required that the bill passed Friday do substantially more.

An effective solution that would not burden taxpayers was proposed to Secretary Paulson. Allowing distressed homeowners the right to fight for their homes in bankruptcy courts could stop the hemorrhaging in the real estate market. Americans can take almost any other type of debt to a bankruptcy judge to renegotiate terms, except for mortgages on a primary residence.

Let's allow distressed homeowners to seek relief from toxic subprime mortgages in the way that Secretary Paulson is seeking a temporary remedy for those very same mortgage-backed securities for the financial industry.

Doing so will help put a floor on the real estate market and give taxpayers a better chance to recover value from the bad assets.

The Bush administration stubbornly refuses to take the necessary steps to stabilize the housing market. Its proposal neglected to take seriously the need to limit outrageous compensation and bonuses paid to Wall Street CEOs and executives who cooked the books and bankrupted their companies.

It failed to provide sufficient ongoing oversight of how this administration would use taxpayer funds. And the plan simply did not provide enough guarantees that the taxpayers who fund the bailout will be repaid as the banks recovered.

I take this economic crisis very seriously. But the people of Connecticut deserve better than the bill presented to Congress this week. My constituents and the American people overall deserve a real solution to the grave problems in our economy, not a dose of elixir that may ultimately make the patient worse.

That's why I voted against the Bush bailout proposal.