Washington, D.C.  –  Congressman Pete Visclosky issued the following statement today on his third vote against the Wall Street bailout.  Visclosky voted to withhold the remaining $350 billion of the $700 billion bailout:

“The Wall Street bailout, given its magnitude and misuse, is shaping up to be one of the greatest government failures in the history of the United States.

“I voted against the bailout the first time because I thought it was wrong to spend taxpayer dollars to reward the greed and avarice of the very people who created the financial crisis.  I voted against it the second time because my Democratic leaders in the House made it even less palatable by succumbing to pressures to include unfunded tax provisions.

“Since then, the TARP program has been terribly executed in an environment devoid of oversight, amounting to a gross mishandling of taxpayer dollars.  The House passed TARP reform this week that should improve the program, and I supported that effort, but it was not enough.

“Congress has a duty to do what is in the best interest of the American people and I made good on that responsibility today by voting to prevent $350 billion more from going to Big Banking executives and their shareholders.  We simply cannot afford to continue to misappropriate funds to this failed program that never should have been created in the first place.”