FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ann Graham Nichols
Phone: 517-290-3962
Email: info@alexanderforcongress.com
Website: alexanderforcongress.com

East Lansing, MI – Bob Alexander says he is glad that Republican opponent Mike Rogers voted against the proposed $700 billion bailout plan that failed in the House this afternoon, but that Rogers is not telling the whole story about his position on the fiscal crisis.

 

In a statement made after the vote on Monday, Rogers said that the Bailout plan ”does not focus on our real problems — a struggling economy, foreclosures and falling home values.” He adds that alternative plans could provide “assistance for struggling homeowners,” and that he will “keep working” to “keep families in their homes.”

 

Alexander points out that Rogers recently voted against legislation that would have provided relief to homeowners facing foreclosure (H.R. 3221: Housing and Recovery Act of 2008). This vote was in keeping with Rogers’ record of voting in lockstep with President Bush, who has indicated that he would veto H.R. 3221 when it came before him.

 

Rogers also stated that he refuses to vote for a bailout measure that rewards “the fat cats that got us in this place in the first place” Rogers has received substantial cash and in-kind donations from Trott & Trott, one of the nation’s largest mortgage foreclosure law firms, in every election cycle since 2000.

 

Alexander asserts that he would have voted for H.R. 3221, and that he has demonstrated his support for homeowners and farmers facing the loss of family homes and businesses to foreclosure. He states that that any Wall Street bailout plan must include the restructuring of sub-prime loans, and relief for families facing foreclosure as the result of predatory lending practices.

 

Finally, NBC correspondent Chuck Todd notes that 90% of Republicans voting “no” on the bailout “ are worried about their election hides.” Alexander says that this may explain Rogers’ uncharacteristic vote on the bailout legislation.