Iowa’s congressional delegation split its vote on the $700 billion bailout bill which failed the U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon. Iowa’s congressmen voted as follows:
- First District Congressman Bruce Braley (D-Waterloo): No
- Second District Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-Mt Vernon): Yes
- Third District Congressman Leonard Boswell (D-Des Moines): Yes
- Fourth District Congressman Tom Latham (R-Ames): No
- Fifth District Congressman Steve King (R-Kiron): No
Braley, Loebsack and Latham have issued written statements this afternoon. Read them on the Radio Iowa blog .
During an interview with Congressman Steve King said he voted against the bailout because it was a government solution, not a free-market solution. "Bottom line this was a vote that decided whether we were going to go down the path of ownership in the American private sector and if we do that, there’s no place to draw the line and say ‘No,’" King says, "so we had to either do it today, or never draw it."
King, a Republican, suggested giving U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson broad new powers isn’t wise. "It would have handed a lot of authority over to the secretary of the treasury and I think that was too much," King said. "I don’t have that much confidence in his judgment. I think he called, ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater and it hurt our markets."