Yesterday, the House declined to go forward with the $700 billion financial services bailout put together by House and Senate leaders working with the Administration. The vote was 205 in favor and 228 opposed.

This is not the end of the bailout idea. Though it appears to be widely unpopular among the American people, many leaders believe that it is necessary to avert a more serious financial crisis. Expect House and Senate leaders to come back with a revised proposal later this week, later this month, or sometime after the election, when the risk of voter retaliation is lower.

In the short “What Can You Do?” section of the WashingtonWatch.com email newsletter this week (subscribe here), I encouraged people to contact their representatives. I don’t care what people think (though I have my opinions): I just want people to get involved with an issue as important as this.

You still should contact your representative. The issue is going to come up again, and if you want to be heard, you’ll get in touch when the heat is off - like right now.

Call to tell your Member of Congress what you think of the way he or she voted, and that you will be following the issue in the future. (Then do that - here!)

The Capitol switchboard number is 202-225-3121. If you don’t know who your representative is, you can figure that out here. You can also contact him or her by email.

Now, be polite or chances are they will disregard what you have to say. Members of Congress and their staffs work for you, but they’re not all that obedient . . . .

Without further ado, here’s the vote on the bailout legislation. An “aye” vote favored the bailout. A “nay” vote opposed it.

(By the way, it was an amendment to H.R. 3997, the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2007. The old scoring of that bill of under a dollar does not reflect the bailout package.)

Cross-posted at the Washington Watch blog

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 1:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized .