Matheson, Bishop oppose bailout, Cannon supports
Both opposed it this time, just as they did when the House initially rejected the bailout on Monday. On the other hand, Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, again supported the bailout — as Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch also did earlier this week.
Of course, Matheson, D-Utah, and the Republican Bishop face re-election next month. Cannon was already defeated in the primary election, so he does not. And neither Bennett nor Hatch face election this year.
Bishop, for example, said that thousands of voter calls to his office were "overwhelmingly against it (the bailout) and very passionate. But I tried to take that equation out of the picture. I really wanted to do the right thing regardless of other ramifications," he said. "I spent a lot of time soul searching."
In the end, "Deep down, I think we could have done better to safeguard the vulnerability of voters," he said.
"I sat in every meeting I could and listened to what everyone was saying —especially those with expertise," he said. "But the advise was often conflicting."
If a more full debate had occurred, Bishop said he might have been able to develop comfort that the bill was the best possible —but he instead was left wondering about many other proposals that did not receive close consideration and debate.
Matheson also said "a solid majority" of calls to his office were against the bailout. "The calls against it actually increased when people found out what the Senate had put in the bill" to sweeten it. "It upset a lot of people."
Matheson said that such calls "weigh into the equation" in his decision making. But, "I look at the merits of the bill, and try to develop as good of a sense as possible of what my constituents want. It is a process I go through on every bill. What I found on this bill is that what I felt about the substance and what my constituents wanted both agreed."
He said his opposition "was in no way a political vote" made simply to increase his reelection changes. "On Monday we voted no, and the stock market dropped 777 votes. If you wanted a political vote, you would want to be on the other side of that," he said.
"The overriding issue is that no one convinced me this bill will fix the underlying problem. When you talk about spending $700 billion, you want to have some certainty about what impact it will have on the problem," Matheson said.
Recent comments
I don't care what else you have done...you have now won my support…
Bishop / Matheson | Oct. 4, 2008 at 1:11 p.m.
You ultra-conservative wingnuts are scary. Constitutional Party?…
Sanity | Oct. 4, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Does anyone remember that the democrats were going to clean up things…
Who's to blame???? | Oct. 3, 2008 at 9:50 p.m.
