hotshotbrian

WASHINGTON - In a stunning vote that shocked the capital and worldwide markets, the House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue for the nation's financial system, ignoring urgent warnings from President Bush and congressional leaders of both parties that the economy could nosedive without it.

Stocks plummeted on Wall Street even before the 228-205 vote to reject the bill was officially announced on the House floor.

As a digital screen in the House chamber recorded a cascade of "no" votes against the bailout, Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley of New York shouted news of the falling Dow Jones industrials. "Six hundred points!" he yelled, jabbing his thumb downward. The decline was about 530 points shortly before the close of the trading day.

Bush and a host of leading congressional figures had implored the lawmakers to pass the legislation despite howls of protest from their constituents back home. Not enough members were willing to take the political risk just five weeks before an election.

"No" votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle. More than two-thirds of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats opposed the bill.

The overriding question for congressional leaders was what to do next. Congress has been trying to adjourn so that its members can go out and campaign. "We are ready to continue to work on this," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

"The legislation may have failed; the crisis is still with us," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a news conference after the defeat.

"What happened today cannot stand," Pelosi said. "We must move forward, and I hope that the markets will take that message."

At the White House, Bush said, "I'm disappointed in the vote by the United Sates Congress on the economic recovery plan."

The president was to meet with members of his economic team later in the day "to determine next steps," said spokesman Tony Fratto.

Republicans blamed Pelosi's scathing speech near the close of the debate — which attacked Bush's economic policies and a "right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation" of financial markets — for the vote's failure.

"We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House," Minority Leader John Boehner said. Pelosi's words, the Ohio Republican said, "poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get, to go south."

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the whip, estimated that Pelosi's speech changed the minds of a dozen Republicans who might otherwise have supported the plan.

Frank said that was a remarkable accusation by Republicans against Republicans: "Because somebody hurt their feelings, they decided to punish the country."

Monday's action had been preceded by unusually aggressive White House lobbying, and Fratto said that Bush had been making calls to lawmakers until shortly before the vote.

Bush and his economic advisers, as well as congressional leaders in both parties had argued the plan was vital to insulating ordinary Americans from the effects of Wall Street's bad bets. The version that was up for vote Monday was the product of marathon closed-door negotiations on Capitol Hill over the weekend.

"We're all worried about losing our jobs," Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declared in an impassioned speech in support of the bill before the vote. "Most of us say, 'I want this thing to pass, but I want you to vote for it — not me.' "

With their dire warnings of impending economic doom and their sweeping request for unprecedented sums of money and authority to bail out cash-starved financial firms, Bush and his economic chiefs have focused the attention of world markets on Congress, Ryan added.

"We're in this moment, and if we fail to do the right thing, Heaven help us," he said.

The legislation the administration promoted would have allowed the government to buy bad mortgages and other rotten assets held by troubled banks and financial institutions. Getting those debts off their books should bolster those companies' balance sheets, making them more inclined to lend and easing one of the biggest choke points in the credit crisis. If the plan worked, the thinking went, it would help lift a major weight off the national economy that is already sputtering.

More than a repudiation of Democrats, Frank said, Republicans' refusal to vote for the bailout was a rejection of their own president.

hothifaass

denied.

zzyyaadd

shit is gonna seriously hit the fan soon

irmad

fuck them i got debt and the government wont bail me out

imd_best

Fuck The Pres. Bush And Rest Of Them
Rich Motha Fuckas That Fucked Up Everyone
Else"s Money!!!!!


Owned!!!!!!!!!!!!!

zzyyaadd

wtf@you 2
its gonna end up hurting all of us even worse in the long run

zzyyaadd

By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: September 29, 2008: 4:23 PM ET

imd_best

They Don"t Give A Fuck About Us!!!! Why Should We Care!!!!!

They Brought That On To Them Selves!!!

If We Fill It Then We'll Fill It But
They Dun Lost Way More Money All Of Us!!
Regualr Citizens Don"t Be Putting A Whole
Bunch Of Money In To Stocks Any Way!!! Unless They Know More To It!!!

Chopz504

oh well this country in deep shyt . people got so much debt it aint funny i found it funny how u suppose to have a-1 credit but the country cant pay their own debt

whitea200

hehe IRAQ 1 - 0 US , hehe we fucked u guys

SephirothVII

Bush is a fuckin dumbass.

Nigga blew that surplus Clinton left him with when he left office and now Obama or McCain(:laugh is gonna inherit a $280+ billion dollar debt when they get sworn in.

yanks08701

Some people only choose to remember Clinton gettin' his dick sucked in the oval office. There WAS some bullshit going on like it does in every administration but Clinton's camp at least figured out how to eliminate debt quickly and we were more respected around the world.