All But One Oklahoma Congressman Vote For Bailout

By Emory Bryan, The News On 6

UNDATED -- The U.S. House passed and President Bush signed the Wall Street bailout bill.  Oklahoma's Congressional delegation helped pass it with only one representative voting no.

In the House, there was a massive change of opinion from Monday.  Two Oklahoma members of the U.S. House changed their minds, including Tulsa's John Sullivan.

Congressman Frank Lucas looks to be the lone holdout voting no just as he did on the House's bailout plan.

Changing their minds this go-around, Representatives Mary Fallin and John Sullivan, who voted yes.  Representatives Dan Boren and Tom Cole voted yes on both plans.

The House spent two hours on the last debate over the bailout, and even to the end, there were plenty of questions.

"Why so much?  Will it work?  We'll see?" said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

Only one Oklahoma Representative argued for it from the floor.

"Credit markets will dry up.  People will lose their jobs.   The real question is:  are we willing to gamble the jobs, the life savings, the retirement accounts, the homes and businesses of the people we represent?  Are we willing to risk the global social and political turmoil that will come if we have a prolonged recession or depression in the United States?  I, for one, am not," said Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma.

When the vote came, Representatives Boren, Cole, Fallin and Sullivan voted for it.  Representative Frank Lucas voted against it.

Tulsa Congressman John Sullivan voted for the bailout after what he said were dire warnings of severe recession, even with the bailout.

"We're looking at massive layoffs.  I don't know what's going to happen.  I think that's why it's important we take action, something to restore confidence, but I think we're headed for rocky times," said Oklahoma Congressman John Sullivan.

Sullivan spelled out the worst of the warnings he got in Washington.

"We've got a long road ahead.  Unemployment figures, some people are saying, could be by the end of the year, as high as 25%.  We're looking at consumer spending, the gross domestic product, going down by 33% by the Christmas holidays, that's 33% less than last year," said Congressman John Sullivan.

The News On 6 hasn't heard any kind of numbers like that anywhere else, but even Senator Tom Coburn said on Wednesday that the country could go well go beyond a recession, and that the positive impact of the bailout would take months to show up, meaning things will get worse before they get better.

Related story:

10/3/2008  Congressman Says He Will Now Vote "Yes"