Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, says he voted for the economic bailout plan that passed the Senate last night, even though he doesn’t think its the best plan. Harkin says something had to be done to shore up the economic system.
Harkin says he hopes what they’ve done will be enough to "calm the markets, restore some stability and overcome this panic mode." Harkin says he believes the "panic mode" he describes was instigated by the treasury secretary. Harkin says he worked with other senators on changes to try and improve the protections for tax payers’ money before the bill passed.
"But I also don’t believe that the package we have passed is going to solve the fundamental problems that we have had in our financial system. That we are going to have to tackle next year," Harkin says. Harkin hopes the U.S. House will get the package passed.
Harkin says he’s hopeful the package will pass and then Congress can come back next "and take the time to do it right." Harkin says he doesn’t like the way the package was rushed through before the election. Harkin says he’s concerned that the final decisions on executive pay in the bailout will be left to the treasury secretary, but he says they had to vote for the bill or do nothing.