Tester & Wicker Are 'no' Votes On Bailout Bill

Freshmen Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) will vote against the $700 bilion bailout package - er, rescue plan - according to statements from their offices.

Tester first: “After reading this legislation carefully, asking tough questions, and hearing from thousands of Montanans, I have decided this bailout proposal doesn’t deserve my vote.

Tester added: “I don’t believe it’s tough enough to protect American taxpayers and small businesses. It doesn’t require the common sense regulations needed to prevent this mess from happening again. It doesn’t go far enough in stripping golden parachutes from the bad actors on Wall Street. And it passes too much debt on to our kids and our grandkids.”

And now Wicker: “The proposal being brought to the Senate floor tonight is an improvement from the initial Paulson plan. But at its core, this is still the same plan that calls on taxpayers to go $700 billion further into debt in an attempt to fix this problem, while doing absolutely nothing to prevent it from happening again. I have strong philosophical differences with this approach, and I will not vote to support it.

“I recognize the challenges facing our economy, and agree steps need to be taken to protect the middle class from the credit problems that stemmed from mistakes on Wall Street. However, it is more important for Congress to do this correctly than to do it quickly."