Washington, D.C.—On the vote for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, (H.R. 1424), Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva maintained a No vote on the package.

He released the following statement:

“Given the continued shortcoming of this legislation, in regards to homeowner and taxpayer protections, I voted No on this package.

“This vote was possibly one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult vote I have ever had to take.

“The crisis we are facing is real and Congress had to do something to relieve the economic pressure.

“I did not feel that H.R. 1424 was the appropriate vehicle. It did not do enough to safeguard taxpayers, no strong oversight, too much latitude for the Secretary of the Treasury, and an unresolved re-payment of the $700 billion.

“I sincerely hope that the action taken by Congress today does in fact, stabilize the economy. The last thing I want to do is say, ‘I told you so’.

“Nevertheless, the next Congress and the new President have much work to do. We must work on special protection for homeowners, deal with a huge deficit, clean up Wall Street corruption and put in regulatory control over our market.

“The work ahead of us needs to be done. I look forward working with the next administration on real change.”