nodope0695
09-30-2008, 10:56 PM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122281628167192275.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Populist Revolt Fueled California 'No' Vote
Congressional leaders wondering why they couldn't muster the votes for the $700 billion financial-rescue plan could look to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home state for answers.
Nearly half of California's congressional delegation -- 24 of 53 members -- voted against the bailout plan backed by congressional leaders and President George W. Bush. "No" votes came from an unlikely mix of left-leaning Democrats and conservative Republicans. The Democrats, in particular, wanted more relief in the bill for mortgage borrowers. Republicans wanted the banks to get less taxpayer money.
"This really was a populist uprising of the far left and the far right, who said, 'Wait a minute, what about the little guy?'" said Ray McNally, a Republican political consultant in Sacramento, Calif.
California has more at stake in congressional efforts to ease the credit crisis than many states. Its housing market -- the largest in the country -- is still in a deep slump. In August, the median price of an existing home in the state fell 40.5% to $350,140, from $588,670 a year earlier, the latest in months of consecutive declines, according to the California Association of Realtors.
California foreclosures, meanwhile, continue to soar. In August, foreclosure filings in the Golden State jumped 41% from the previous month, compared with a national increase of 12%, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a real-estate tracking firm based in Irvine, Calif.
But voters' angst over the mortgage meltdown didn't translate into broad support for the bailout proposal. In the days leading up to Monday's bailout vote, for example, Californians flooded their representatives on Capitol Hill with calls and emails heavily opposed to the bill. They included constituents like Kem Weber, a real-estate appraiser and broker from Nipomo, Calif., who repeatedly emailed his Republican congressman, Kevin McCarthy, that Congress should do more to help borrowers -- not give banks money.
Mr. Weber has experienced the real-estate problems firsthand. His bank, he said, recently froze a $250,000 equity line on his $1.8 million home even though values haven't fallen as much in his coastal neighborhood as inland places like the Central Valley. "The problem with the bailout plan is there is nothing in it for you or I," said the 62-year-old Mr. Weber.
Rep. McCarthy ended up voting against the bill, as did seven of California's 19 Republican congressmen.
Another Republican who voted "nay" was Rep. Devin Nunes, whose Central Valley district has been hammered by foreclosures. "My biggest concern was we were putting a $700 billion gamble on one guy," Rep. Nunes said, referring to the proposal that would have put that amount of federal bailout money under the control of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Other Republicans who voted for the bill said they did so because they feared the financial system might collapse if they didn't. Rep. Mary Bono Mack said she cast a "yes" vote despite getting calls running "100 to 1" against it. "I recognize people are probably angry at me, but at the end of the day I have to make decisions that are good for the rest of the country," Rep. Bono Mack said.
On the Democratic side, a spokesman for Rep. Barbara Lee -- who was the only person in Congress to vote against the authorization of force following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- said the Oakland lawmaker voted against the bailout bill mainly because it didn't include any relief for mortgage borrowers. "This is a big deal to her, because whole neighborhoods in Oakland are being shuttered by foreclosure," the spokesman said.
Like other lawmakers who voted against the bill, Rep. Lee has indicated she would support a revised measure if it included provisions like increased limits on the amount of bank savings insured by the FDIC -- a proposal that gained ground in Washington Tuesday. Rep. Pelosi of San Francisco wasn't immediately available for comment Tuesday, but Rep. Jackie Speier, a fellow Democrat in the San Francisco Bay Area who voted for the bill, said she, too, believed the House would pass a compromise bill. "It's one of those issues that the public expects us to do the right thing," Rep. Speier said.
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-AS872A_CALIF_NS_20080930202713.gif
Populist Revolt Fueled California 'No' Vote
Congressional leaders wondering why they couldn't muster the votes for the $700 billion financial-rescue plan could look to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home state for answers.
Nearly half of California's congressional delegation -- 24 of 53 members -- voted against the bailout plan backed by congressional leaders and President George W. Bush. "No" votes came from an unlikely mix of left-leaning Democrats and conservative Republicans. The Democrats, in particular, wanted more relief in the bill for mortgage borrowers. Republicans wanted the banks to get less taxpayer money.
"This really was a populist uprising of the far left and the far right, who said, 'Wait a minute, what about the little guy?'" said Ray McNally, a Republican political consultant in Sacramento, Calif.
California has more at stake in congressional efforts to ease the credit crisis than many states. Its housing market -- the largest in the country -- is still in a deep slump. In August, the median price of an existing home in the state fell 40.5% to $350,140, from $588,670 a year earlier, the latest in months of consecutive declines, according to the California Association of Realtors.
California foreclosures, meanwhile, continue to soar. In August, foreclosure filings in the Golden State jumped 41% from the previous month, compared with a national increase of 12%, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a real-estate tracking firm based in Irvine, Calif.
But voters' angst over the mortgage meltdown didn't translate into broad support for the bailout proposal. In the days leading up to Monday's bailout vote, for example, Californians flooded their representatives on Capitol Hill with calls and emails heavily opposed to the bill. They included constituents like Kem Weber, a real-estate appraiser and broker from Nipomo, Calif., who repeatedly emailed his Republican congressman, Kevin McCarthy, that Congress should do more to help borrowers -- not give banks money.
Mr. Weber has experienced the real-estate problems firsthand. His bank, he said, recently froze a $250,000 equity line on his $1.8 million home even though values haven't fallen as much in his coastal neighborhood as inland places like the Central Valley. "The problem with the bailout plan is there is nothing in it for you or I," said the 62-year-old Mr. Weber.
Rep. McCarthy ended up voting against the bill, as did seven of California's 19 Republican congressmen.
Another Republican who voted "nay" was Rep. Devin Nunes, whose Central Valley district has been hammered by foreclosures. "My biggest concern was we were putting a $700 billion gamble on one guy," Rep. Nunes said, referring to the proposal that would have put that amount of federal bailout money under the control of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Other Republicans who voted for the bill said they did so because they feared the financial system might collapse if they didn't. Rep. Mary Bono Mack said she cast a "yes" vote despite getting calls running "100 to 1" against it. "I recognize people are probably angry at me, but at the end of the day I have to make decisions that are good for the rest of the country," Rep. Bono Mack said.
On the Democratic side, a spokesman for Rep. Barbara Lee -- who was the only person in Congress to vote against the authorization of force following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- said the Oakland lawmaker voted against the bailout bill mainly because it didn't include any relief for mortgage borrowers. "This is a big deal to her, because whole neighborhoods in Oakland are being shuttered by foreclosure," the spokesman said.
Like other lawmakers who voted against the bill, Rep. Lee has indicated she would support a revised measure if it included provisions like increased limits on the amount of bank savings insured by the FDIC -- a proposal that gained ground in Washington Tuesday. Rep. Pelosi of San Francisco wasn't immediately available for comment Tuesday, but Rep. Jackie Speier, a fellow Democrat in the San Francisco Bay Area who voted for the bill, said she, too, believed the House would pass a compromise bill. "It's one of those issues that the public expects us to do the right thing," Rep. Speier said.
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-AS872A_CALIF_NS_20080930202713.gif