Most area lawmakers vote party line

Philadelphia-area lawmakers voted largely along partisan lines on the $700 billion bailout plan, with only two local Republicans - Reps. James Saxton of New Jersey and Michael N. Castle of Delaware - supporting it and one Democrat, Rep. Tim Holden of Pennsylvania, opposing it.

After the 228-205 defeat of the bill, the one thing legislators agreed on was a need to remain in Washington until a rescue plan was approved.

"I do not understand why the administration demanded that we rush this bill into law. If we take our time and get this right, the markets will react positively," Rep. Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.) said, after voting against the bailout.

Gerlach said the plan did not include adequate safeguards to ensure taxpayers would be repaid, did not go far enough to limit executive compensation, and did not protect against a repeat of the failures that led to the current market instability.

Rep. Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), who voted for the bailout, said the rescue plan was necessary to protect workers' jobs, pensions, home values, and health care.

He said those essentials were threatened by rising credit costs for employers as a result of the financial crisis.

"This economy cannot function without credit . . . and we're in the middle of a credit crisis," Andrews said. He said that if companies have to pay more to borrow money, they will hire fewer people, which will reduce demand for housing, prompting lower house prices and pushing the stock market lower. He called that "a recipe for disaster."

Andrews chastised GOP lawmakers for failing to produce enough votes to pass the bailout. He said the GOP was expected to deliver 90 votes and the Democrats 140, but the "Republicans fell far short."

"I do not believe this economic crisis is fictional or political," Andrews said, acknowledging the bailout of Wall Street "is a tough sell."

Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.) said House members were "stampeded into this vote today on a flawed bill."

"I could not support forcing the taxpayers to carry the burden of $700 billion in poor financial decisions on Wall Street. This bill would have fundamentally altered the relationship between the government and our financial system," he said in a statement.

Looking ahead, Philadelphia Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah said: "The last thing we need to do is have another vote that fails."

With Congress off for the Jewish holidays today and tomorrow, "the real challenge is what's going to happen in the credit markets over the next few days," Fattah said.

Before the vote, Fattah addressed the House, urging the bill's passage.

"Now I know that we are tempted to see this as just another train wreck of the Bush administration," Fattah said. "But we have to look past that to protecting the jobs of our constituents, their 401s, their pension funds, their ability to own and run and borrow to establish small businesses."

Another Philadelphia Democrat, Rep. Robert Brady, blamed the crisis on "eight years of Republican failure to oversee financial markets."

Brady said he voted for the bailout because "we were able to draft a bill that included protections for taxpayers and homeowners as well as stepping up to avoid a meltdown of our economy."

Rep. Allyson Schwartz, a Democrat who represents parts of Montgomery County and Philadelphia, voted for the bailout and blamed its defeat on the disintegration of bipartisan support. Through a spokeswoman, she said she would work with House leaders to resume negotiating.

One of the 65 Republicans who did vote for the measure was New Jersey's Saxton, who is retiring.

"He thought there were enough changes and enough of a compromise," said his spokesman, Jeff Sagnip Hollendonner. Saxton was especially reassured that the measure included protections for community banks that have assets tied up in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages, Hollendonner said.

After voting against the bailout, Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.) said: "I have heard from an overwhelming number of my constituents who are struggling to pay their own bills and are now being told they would also have to pay the bills of Wall Street."

Rep. Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) said his vote in favor of the bailout was his most important since he was elected to Congress in 2006.

Sestak represents most of Delaware County and parts of Chester and Montgomery Counties, where constituent calls have shifted from an initial 200-1 against the bailout to 15 to 20 percent in favor of some kind of action, he said.

"I believe the failure to do this means that there is exponentially graver potential damage including a deep, long recession," Sestak said.

Rep. Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.) said he voted against the measure because he couldn't support giving "unprecedented authority" to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Dent said he was committed to passing measures to stabilize the markets without buying "toxic assets at inflated prices" as this "Wall Street-insider solution" would have done.

"This legislation could have resulted in billions of dollars being used to buy the toxic assets currently held by foreign investors," Dent said.

Rep. Patrick Murphy, a freshman Democrat who represents Bucks County and parts of Montgomery County and Philadelphia, voted to approve the package.

"Let's be clear - politicians voting against this bill today caused the biggest point drop the Dow has ever recorded," he said in a statement, referring to the 777-point drop in the stock index.

"This is what's wrong with Washington - reckless partisan extremists just made it much harder for Pennsylvania families to keep their homes, seniors to protect their pensions, and students to get loans," he added.

Two of those who voted against the bailout, Pennsylvania Democrat Holden, who represents the Harrisburg area and parts of Berks County, and Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.), could not be reached for comment.

Castle, the Delaware Republican, said that Paulson and President Bush had done a poor job of selling the plan to Americans, prompting a deluge of outraged phone calls from constituents.

"If people truly understood that their 401(k)s and their investments and their home value and their ability to get a student loan or any other kind of loan were in jeopardy," Castle said, "the perception of all of this could have been changed dramatically."