Barrett: Free Market Solution; Not Government Intervention

Congressman Gresham Barrett (SC, 3) delivered the following remarks regarding his concerns with the level of government intervention and lack of free market principles included in H.R. 3779, the Financial Stabilization Package:

"First off, I want to commend my colleagues, especially Minority Leader John Boehner, Roy Blunt, Eric Cantor, and Ranking Member Spencer Bachus, for their work in improving this bill. However, after careful - and agonizing - consideration, I cannot support H.R. 3997 and will be voting no.

"I understand the need to act and I understand the urge to act quickly. We must restore the flow of credit. I firmly subscribe to the belief that “Main Street” and Wall Street are inextricably linked. Instability in the financial markets leads to instability in taxpayers’ personal accounts and their personal funds. Meanwhile, that capital that flows through our financial markets is vital to the continued success of our businesses, large and small. We should all agree that a failure of our credit markets would be an enormous catastrophe, and the government does have a role in ensuring that the financial markets function soundly.

"At the same time, we cannot allow the American taxpayers to become the insurance policy for financial decisions that did not turn out as planned. Whether you’re talking about someone from South Carolina who took a mortgage they couldn’t afford or a Wall Street banker who financed that loan, we see just how important personal responsibility must be to American society, and I fear that this legislation erodes that accountability – and the freedom that comes with it.

"Unfortunately, our government is in debt. And we are in a lot of debt, both as a government and as a nation. In fact, this whole crisis is built around debt, where too much bad debt has caused an inability to get new credit – otherwise known as debt. My daddy always told me that you can’t borrow your way out of debt, and he was right.

"There are other reasonable options that we should explore to help the markets heal themselves and that would not burden our country under even greater mounds of debt. I was pushing for a plan that would use more free market principles such as a suspension of the capital gains tax and incentives for repatriation of earnings, o help spur economic growth by helping all Americans whose retirement accounts are invested in the stock market, or who own a house, or a business and jump start the flow of funds back into the system.

"There is no doubt that we find ourselves in a precarious situation and people are angry, rightly so. I am angry. But we must not allow this anger to cloud our judgment and make choices that will divide our country. This is not a matter of Wall Street versus Main Street.

"But when it becomes time to vote on this bill, I will be voting no. I understand my colleagues for their reasoning, and I am confident that we all want to do what's best for the country. But, because I believe so strongly in the principles of the free market and the belief in freedom, I will be opposing this bill. My fear is that today the government will be forever changing the face of the American free market."