[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 830]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ``BANK ROBBERY?''

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, oh, how things have changed. Time was, 
when you borrowed money from a bank, the bank wanted to know what the 
money was going to be used for, and you were required to fill out a 
bunch of forms to receive that money.
  Now the big banks have shown up, wanting $350 billion from the 
taxpayer. They won't tell us what they will use the money for, and they 
haven't filled out any paperwork to justify receiving more taxpayer 
money. You see, they don't want the same standards they require on 
borrowers to be applied to them when they want money.
  It used to be the bad guys robbed the banks. Now it appears that the 
banks are the bad guys by putting a financial gun to the people, 
saying, ``Give us the loot or you're all going to die economically.''
  It's like bank robbery in reverse. It seems like the big banking 
boys' gang is robbing the people. We call all of this nonsense a 
bailout, but bailouts have not helped stimulate the economy. Why don't 
we just say, ``No''? No more money to special interest groups. No more 
taxpayer money will be spent without accountability. No more spending 
money we don't have. We cannot spend, borrow and tax our way out of 
this economic calamity.
  And that's just the way it is.

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