All but one in Alabama delegation vote for bailout

BY AMY DOMINELLO
Media General News Service

Published: September 29, 2008

WASHINGTON – All but one of Alabama’s seven congressmen voted Monday for the economic bailout package. 

Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Haleyville, was the sole congressman from Alabama to vote against the bailout, which failed to pass the House. Other members of Alabama’s congressional delegation said they reluctantly supported the bailout because they feared a deepening financial crisis if Congress did not act. 

“It was an imperfect bill, but I believed it was the right thing to do despite my serious reservations about it,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Anniston. “I can only hope my concerns about serious economic peril will be proven wrong.”

The House voted 228 to 205 to defeat a $700 billion emergency rescue package for the nation’s financial system, ignoring urgent warnings from President Bush and congressional leaders of both parties that the economy could nosedive into recession without it.

Rep. Terry Everett, a Republican from Enterprise, said he hates that the country is in this situation, “but, we are a nation of credit and that credit will collapse if nothing is done.”

“… This federal intervention into our free enterprise system runs against every conservative grain in my body, but I will reluctantly support this compromise measure,” he said. 

Leaders were huddling after the vote to figure out their next steps. It was unclear Monday afternoon if the House would take up the measure again in an effort to pass the bailout legislation. The Senate was scheduled to take it up mid-week.

Rep. Spencer Bachus, a Republican from Birmingham, and Rep. Bud Cramer, a Democrat from Huntsville, both said Monday’s vote might be the most important of their careers.

“I have decided that the cost of not acting outweighs the cost of acting,” Bachus, who holds a top spot on the House Financial Services Committee, said on the House floor.

Cramer said in a statement that his decision was driven not just by what will happen on Wall Street but to people in Alabama.

“I understand the opposition to this plan, but the seriousness of this time in our nation’s history requires action to keep our economy solvent,” Cramer said. “Without it, we could fall into economic times that we have not experienced since the Depression.”

Contact Amy Dominello at 202-662-7671 or