Sam Brownback: “I am rising to speak in favor of the disapproval resolution. I think we should disapprove the use of the TARP funds, and…”

“I am rising to speak in favor of the disapproval resolution. I think we should disapprove the use of the TARP funds, and I will outline why to my colleagues and point out the reasons and give a little bit of history on this as well. I think it is interesting the Treasury Department came here on Saturday, September 22, and said: We have to do this. We have to have $700 billion to save the financial institutions across the United States. We have to do it, and we have to do it now. There were zero hearings on the $700 billion. Now, normally, around here you would not spend $7 million, let alone $7 billion or $70 billion, without a hearing. We did $700 billion without a hearing, and in a rush and in a push and people saying: We have to do this now or we risk going into a Great Depression. This bill passed. Now, my phone was ringing during that period of time. My guess is the Presiding Officer's phone was ringing during that period of time. Kansans were hot and mad and upset and strongly opposed. I think at one point in time we had 2,000 calls against and 40 for the bill. There was strong opposition. They do not like the idea of giving the money to the people who made the mistakes and did the wrongdoing in the first place, and it was our taxpayer money.”