[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OPPOSE MEXICO BAILOUT

  (Mr. DUNCAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, the American people do not want us to vote 
for a $40 billion bailout for Mexico.
  We should listen to William Seidman, former head of the FDIC, who 
wrote in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, that a market judgment 
mistake was made by investors and lenders who did not properly evaluate 
the situation.
  Mr. Seidman asked: ``Why should anyone be bailed out by the U.S. 
Government . . . for a business mistake?''
  He said Mexico was like a kid in a candy store and simply did too 
much short term borrowing.
  But, if we place too many conditions on Mexico, as we should to 
protect United States taxpayers, it will cause tremendous resentment 
among average Mexican citizens. Lawrence Kudlow, the economics editor 
for National Review summed it up best:

       * * * if the GOP goes along with the extravagant and 
     unsound plan put forward by the Clinton administration, it 
     should get ready for electoral backlash. Voters who want 
     smaller and more frugal government at home, with a new 
     emphasis on personal responsibility, expect no less in our 
     policy dealings abroad. Broken Mexican promises on trade, 
     money and free-market reforms should not be rewarded with a 
     big government bailout. Sound money and sound fiscal policies 
     are the only lasting answers.
     

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