[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23891]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               ACT DECISIVELY AND IN A BIPARTISAN FASHION

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, today the House must act decisively and 
in a bipartisan fashion to begin the process of rescuing an economy 
that has been spiraling downward for some time. Without action, we are 
warned the credit markets will freeze up, preventing families from 
getting car and home loans, students from qualifying for college loans, 
and small businesses from being able to pay their employees or purchase 
new products.
  Over the last couple of days, we have heard that traffic in 
automobile dealerships is down 50 percent in the last month because 
people can't get the credit to purchase a new car. We have heard about 
college students not being able to pay for their classes or their books 
because they can't get the loan to attend school.
  If we don't act today, credit markets will freeze and Main Street 
will suffer. Families living from paycheck to paycheck will see their 
credit card limits slashed and interest rates increased. This is 
something we simply can't allow to happen. I hope that we can come 
together in strong bipartisan fashion to pass this economic rescue 
package today.

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