Bob Schaffer on Budget & Economy Senate challenger 2008; previously Republican Representative (CO-4)

$700 billion bailout is necessary but essentially a tax

Udall accused Schaffer of supporting the policies that have led to the economic crisis, while Schaffer responded that Udall has voted against having more oversight for companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Schaffer said the proposed $700 billion bailout is necessary but "essentially a tax." Udall says the plan is not supported by his constituents.

$700B bailout is dead hand of government making things worse

SCHAFFER: There's nothing to like about the notion that there is a $700 billion fix needed with respect to a collapse on Wall Street. That's about $10,000 to $11,000 per American household. It's essentially a tax. So you're correct. For the Congress to suggest that there's something to celebrate is exactly wrong.

Q: Chris Cox, the chairman of the SEC, said it's not the dead hand of government, but the blind eye of government. He now apologizes for deregulating. So isn't it time to reinstitute closer regulation of Wall Street?

SCHAFFER: In some areas, perhaps, with respect to transparency, & with respect to certain areas of accountability. But not in a way that slows or constrains the ability of the economy to grow.

Congress' 2007 laws made private sector pay for bailout

UDALL: What we can't do, is return to the policies that Schaffer supported & supports today, which are tax breaks for CEOs & companies that offshore jobs.

SCHAFFER: That's not true.

UDALL: That's not going to get us to health in our financial system. Schaffer supported a lessening of regulation.

SCHAFFER: That's not true either. You voted against several amendments. You voted against establishing minimum capital levels for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. You voted in 2007 to further loosen Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's credit limits. That leads directly to the crisis we're seeing on Wall Street today.

UDALL: This is [the result of deregulation during] 10 years of the Bush administration, of the Reagan revolution coming to its logical conclusion.

SCHAFFER: Those of us who've been back home in the private sector working hard for the last 6 years are sick & tired of these kinds of votes that make all of the rest of us pay.

Balance the budget; oppose automatic pay raises in Congress

Allow $3 on 1040 form to pay off National Debt.

OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit an individual to designate three dollars on his or her income tax return (six dollars on a joint return) to be used to reduce the public debt of the United States.

SPONSOR'S INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT: Pres. Eisenhower apparently once said that he believed that there could be no surplus as long as our Nation was in debt. I come from that school of thought, and yet that is not exactly where we are right now in Washington.

Where we are right now is debating whether or not 90 percent or 50 percent, or some number in between, of these projected future surpluses should be allocated to the debt. What struck me is the fact that really more than just the Congress should be involved in that debate. It is for that reason that I introduce today the Taxpayers' Choice Debt Reduction Act.

What this bill would do would be to simply take the 1040, the tax return as we now know it. And right now, we can send $3 to the presidential campaign. This would create another box wherein we could send 3 bucks to debt reduction. That is not enough money to change our national debt, but it is enough money to make a small step in an important debate that we all ought to be a part of.

LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means; never called for a House vote.