Bailout failure: how the San Gabriel Valley reps voted

Aye: Gary Miller, David Dreier
Nay: Hilda Solis, Adam Schiff, Grace Napolitano, Linda Sanchez

In an unusual split, our area Democrats voted against the bailout, and our area Republicans voted for it. Nationally, 140 Democrats voted for it, with 95 against, and 65 Republicans voted for it, with 133 against.

It seems that people's ideological stance was not an accurate predictor of how they voted: some liberal Democrats voted for it, some against. Some conservative Republicans voted for it, some against.

The Democrats I spoke to felt it gave too much power to the executive branch, particularly for Secretary Paulson- Schiff raised concerns that taxpayers would not get their money back since Paulson would be able to decide which equities taxpayers would get a share in, and which they wouldn't.

They also strongly believe that the bill does not do anything to address the root of the problem: home foreclosures. Without legislation that gives homeowners a way to renegotiate their mortgages so they can find a way to make payments, Solis and Napolitano are not likely to vote for it.

I spoke with David Dreier, on the Republican side, and he portrayed the bill as a necessary evil.... he did not have much to say on what specific issues could be addressed to bring Republicans who voted against the bill on board.

More to come in tomorrow's paper.

UPDATE: The Washington Post has a voter database that breaks votes down by several categories, some of them minimally irrelevant at best. One category I did find interesting is breaking the vote down by region. Legislators from the 'Northeast' region voted for it overwhelmingly, 54-29. Every other region voted against it.