Jordan, Latta not on board with bailout

WASHINGTON - Fixing what's wrong on Wall Street shouldn't come on the backs of U.S. taxpayers, the region's House representatives said Friday as they prepared for a weekend of negotiating.

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, is one in a "strong majority" of House Republicans who want a "free market-based" approach to addressing the meltdown on Wall Street.

"This is an opportunity for us to address real needs and real concerns out there, but do it in a free market oriented manner," Jordan said. "The initial proposal from Secretary Paulson wasn't focused on that."

Paulson's proposal said to taxpayers with investments and savings hurt by "former politicians and bankers on Wall Street" that they would "help clean up this mess, and that seemed like the exact wrong approach."

U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, said he wants more taxpayer protections in the package before he supports it, but added that he couldn't say how he would vote because he hadn't seen a bill.

"All of a sudden taxpayers are being asked to pay not only on their own mortgages, but someone else's mistake," Latta said.

A $700 trillion package on top of trillions in federal debt, other recent bailouts and things such as billions leaving the country spent on foreign oil is too much, Latta said. Some of the Democrats' provisions would cost people more, not less, to borrow money, Latta said.

Jordan wants to see things such as cuts in the capital gains and corporate tax rates, which would put capital and cash back into the market, he said.

Jordan and Latta's offices have received calls and correspondence from hundreds of constituents, nearly all of whom are angry that their tax dollars would be used on a bailout.

Asked if a deal not getting done had to do with President Bush's lack of credibility in Washington or the country, Jordan said Bush "has done a lot of things right."

"There's some concern because the president wants to spend too much money," Jordan said. "That got our party in trouble in 2006. I do think there's some concern there."