[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20802]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     NO BUFFETT DEAL FOR TAXPAYERS

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, there is a double standard that is 
occurring in the wake of the largest government bailout in history. 
Warren Buffett yesterday announced he will invest $5 billion in Goldman 
Sachs, the investment bank at which the Secretary of Treasury Paulson 
used to be the CEO. The struggling investment bank is attempting to 
raise capital and has wooed Buffett into his plan by offering his 
company preferred shares in return's for Buffett's bailout investment.
  And herein lies the double standard. The Treasury Secretary, who 
happens to have close ties with Goldman Sachs, wants authority to use 
taxpayer dollars to bail out private financial companies, including his 
own firm, while taxpayers will get nothing at all in return but bad 
debt.
  If taxpayers are going to get stuck bailing out bad debt, shouldn't 
they get some kind of Buffett deal as well? Clearly this government 
bailout is fraught with nothing but double standards and conflicts of 
interest.

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