Most Dems in Wash. delegation back bill

Washington's congressional delegation voted mostly along party lines Monday on a doomed $700 billion financial-bailout package.

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, of Bainbridge Island, was the only Democrat who voted with Republicans to oppose the measure.

The state's three Republicans — Dave Reichert, of Auburn, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, of Spokane, and Doc Hastings, of Pasco, all voted against the package.

The measure failed 228-205, sending House leaders back to the drawing board to continue working on the financial crisis.

Inslee said he couldn't vote for a plan that didn't ensure taxpayers would be repaid. He also said in a statement the plan didn't do enough to "stem the real cause of the crisis, which is the collapse in our housing markets."

In the state's most competitive House race, both Reichert and Darcy Burner, his Democratic opponent in November, opposed the measure and said it didn't do enough to protect taxpayers.

"It's more important to get this legislation right than to act in haste," Reichert said in a statement. "Panic on Wall Street brought us to this point, and we cannot let panic in Congress push through a remedy that is worse than the illness."

Reichert and Burner both said the bill didn't go far enough to restrict Wall Street executives' salaries or to require financial institutions to contribute what they could to the rescue.

Burner also said any bailout package should fix what she considers the underlying problem — too much deregulation of the mortgage industry.

Reichert was critical that the package didn't address how the government could afford a $700 billion bailout and still pay for Medicare and Social Security.

Of all the Democrats in the state delegation, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, Lake Stevens, was most supportive of the package.

He said he was disappointed that what he called "critical legislation" had failed and said the bill was the equivalent of House Republicans telling President Bush he couldn't have a "blank check."

"Let me be absolutely clear — the economic-rescue package I voted for today is not about helping banks or Wall Street," he said in a statement. "It's about protecting all of us — American families in Washington state and across the country who need our economy to recover and grow."

Other Democrats were more measured in their support.

U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, of Seattle, who initially opposed a bailout, acknowledged in a statement that the bill was not perfect but said he trusted House Democratic leaders who pushed the legislation.

"Doing nothing sends a terrible signal," he said.

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, of Tacoma, said in his statement he voted for the package because he believes an impending financial crisis would affect all Americans.

"This bill was not a perfect solution and it is not exactly how I would have drafted it," he said. "However, I do believe that it would have helped reduce and reverse the negative trends in our economy today."

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com