[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20189]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        THE BAILOUT LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Vermont (Mr. Welch) for 2 minutes.
  Mr. WELCH of Vermont. Mr. Speaker, I want to read a letter from a 
Vermonter about this bailout. It's from a banker.
  ``I am a community banker who is irate about the recent developments 
on Wall Street and recent bailouts that our government has undertaken. 
The great, great majority of banks in this country never made one 
subprime loan, and 98 percent are well capitalized. We are working 
every day to serve our communities and provide loans to consumers and 
small businesses. Banks have paid tens of billions of premiums to fund 
the FDIC insurance fund, and we know we are going to have significantly 
increased premiums for years to come. We accept that and we don't ask 
for or need a bailout.
  ``Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG are not banks. Yet we 
hear constant talk about `bank problems' and `bank bailouts.' Now 
Congress is going to vote on legislation to consider a fund with 
billions of dollars in it to buy distressed assets and some want to add 
amendments that will hurt my bank, the local community bank, such as 
changes in the bankruptcy laws.
  ``My bank is trying to serve its community and make loans, but it 
cannot do that when policymakers are adopting policies that may make it 
hard to lend and increase regulatory costs. While a stable financial 
system is essential, these measures cannot be done at the expense of 
community banks like mine. I implore you to please consider the impact 
of these proposals and oppose any effort to include provisions that 
would hurt our community banks.''

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