Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss said his vote for the Wall Street bailout was crucial for Georgians. Chambliss was speaking at a press conference in Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Oct 2, 2008. (Carl Zornes)
Chambliss says his Senate vote okaying the 700-billion dollar funding measure is in line with public sentiment:
“The overwhelming majority of the american people, and certainly the majority of Georgians, I know, support the Congress as policymakers, making sure that we don’t slide down into a financial depression.”While Chambliss voted for the measure, all of Georgia's Republican House members opposed it in a vote on Monday. Chambliss says he hopes they will now throw their support behind the hotly debated bailout.
Sen. Johnny Isakson voted for the bill, as did both presidential candidates, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain.
Chambliss says Georgia's economy could take a hit without it's passage. The House is expected to vote on the measure on Friday.
Talking to reporters at the Senate, Chambliss said:
"We’ve got Georgia banks who are crimped from a credit standpoint and aren’t even able to make automobile loans today,"Addressing reporters at a press conference at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport the morning after the vote, Chambliss said:
"We have major employers who are having their lines of credit cut or in some cases cancelled. And it's going to start costing us jobs.”
"Taking no action is simply not an option. We simply can't afford for the stock market to have losses of one point two trillion dollars on any kind of regular basis."
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