U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., issued the following statement today on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 263 to 171. Visclosky voted against the bill:

"Earlier this week, I spelled out my opposition to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, better known as the Wall Street bailout.

"To reiterate some of the points I made then, I do not believe it is the responsibility of Congress to bail out financial firms experiencing loss because of a lack of regulation, a lack of oversight, the greed of financial executives involved who often make sums in excess of 250 times the income of the average American worker, and bad judgment.

"This crisis is a decade in the making. It is the result of cynical exploitation within an unregulated industry, and it should be addressed conscientiously and equitably. We should have considered all the viable alternatives to the bailout and deliberated the merits of each course of action in order to strengthen the banks' balance sheets.

"At the heart of today's bill was the same flawed bailout plan I voted against on Monday. I support some of the additions like raising FDIC insurance coverage to $250,000, disaster assistance benefits, and mental health parity. I would also support the energy and business tax extenders and alternative minimum tax relief if they were paid for. However, they are not, and we will have to borrow $150.5 billion over the next 10 years to support them. If they're worth doing, they're worth paying for now.

"From my perspective, today's bill was not improved, and I could not vote for it."