2008 ME Senate Debates: on Budget & Economy

Tom Allen: Bush administration’s debt has failed middle-class America

Susan Collins: We tried & failed in 2005 to tighten mortgage regulations

But she said a 2005 House bill to tighten regulations was too weak, and that Allen voted against two amendments that would’ve strengthened it. That version died in the Senate. But a different bill, with the amendments, eventually became law last July.

Allen said the bigger problem is the economic policies of President Bush. He said they drove up the national debt. At the same time, there was a lack of oversight of Wall Street practices, Allen said. “The belief in letting the markets run their course has never been stronger than in this administration,” he said.

Both Collins and Allen agreed that the revised version of the bailout vote was better than the first because it had added oversight and more safeguards for taxpayers.

Tom Allen: Driving up debt & unbridled free market caused bank crisis

But she said a 2005 House bill to tighten regulations was too weak, and that Allen voted against two amendments that would’ve strengthened it. That version died in the Senate. But a different bill, with the amendments, eventually became law last July.

Allen said the bigger problem is the economic policies of President Bush. He said they drove up the national debt. At the same time, there was a lack of oversight of Wall Street practices, Allen said. “The belief in letting the markets run their course has never been stronger than in this administration,” he said.

Both Collins and Allen agreed that the revised version of the bailout vote was better than the first because it had added oversight and more safeguards for taxpayers.