Published: October 02, 2008 12:30 pm            

Democratic challenger criticizes Chambliss for vote

ATLANTA - Jim Martin, the Democratic Party challenger to Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss in the November election, issued the following statement this morning on last night's Senate vote concerning the financial rescue package:

"I am disappointed, but not surprised, to see that Saxby Chambliss voted for another typical Washington solution to a very real problem. It's classic Saxby economics - $700 billion for Wall Street, while Georgia families get stuck with the bill. That's just wrong. This updated package still fails to address the fundamental problems created by the deregulation of Wall Street, which Chambliss went to Washington and voted for every step of the way. And it lacks consumer protections to stem the abusive lending practices that are at the root of this crisis - practices that I sounded the alarm on two years ago, long before the mortgage crisis began.

"I strongly believe that action must be taken to stabilize our economy in order for us to start reversing the failed Bush economic policies that have proven so disastrous for the middle class. But what I am not willing to do is to stick taxpayers with an enormous and costly bailout bill, rushed through in haste, which won't even solve the problem and which is now full of pork barrel projects. The only thing worse than having to pay $700 billion today would be having to pay another $700 billion tomorrow because Washington and Saxby Chambliss could not find the courage and common ground to stand up and make a real change in the system. If the bailout bill ultimately passes in its present form, I will work with our next president and the congressional leadership to address these flaws so that we can ensure that another crisis of this magnitude does not threaten our economy in the future."

        

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