[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20803]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  REPUBLICAN ECONOMIC PHILOSOPHY PRODUCED OUR NATION'S ECONOMIC CRISIS

  (Mr. HARE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HARE. Mr. Speaker, the Bush administration is asking this 
Congress to approve a $700 billion blank check for Wall Street in the 
hopes that they can begin to fix the economic crisis that this 
administration helped create.
  For 8 years now, President Bush, Senator McCain and this Republican 
Congress implemented the GOP philosophy of economics: First, shower the 
wealthy with the tax breaks in hopes that it trickles down to the 
middle- class; and second, eliminate all regulations so there are no 
longer any referees watching the barons of Wall Street.
  Both these policies have failed miserably. Tax cuts for the wealthy 
are not trickling down to the middle class. In fact, over the last 8 
years, real wages have fallen by $300 and the Republicans' lack of 
government regulation allowed Wall Street to game the system. Today, 
our entire economy is suffering because Washington Republicans refused 
to institute the proper oversight that is necessary to keep Wall Street 
in check.
  Mr. Speaker, if the Bush administration wants to bail out Wall 
Street, it is important that this Congress look out for Main Street and 
get some assurances that this will never happen again.

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