Oct 3, 2008 11:16 pm US/Eastern
Cummings Votes To Support Bailout Bill
WASHINGTON (WJZ) ―
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Calling it one of the most difficult decisions of his political career, Congressman Elijah Cummings voted to support the bailout plan that was before the House Friday.
CBS
An outspoken member of our state's congressional delegation switched his vote from "no" to "yes." And overall, only one Maryland congressman voted against the bailout.
When it comes to Wall Street and Washington, so much can change in just 24 hours.
Weijia Jiang reports on Thursday, it seemed there was no doubt Congressman Elijah Cummings would reject the federal bailout package. Then he had a change of heart.
"We have a gentleman that visited my office yesterday, Mr. Greenblatt," said Cummings.
And it's at his office
WJZ met that Mr. Greenblatt, the president of a steel manufacturing company in Baltimore who was determined to sway his congressman to vote "yes," which he did.
"The country is in pain. It looks like we're on the verge of all kinds of problems, and what we've got to do is stop the bleeding," said Cummings.
"It's very scary what could have happened. I think there would have been mass layoffs in Baltimore City, and there would have been a lot of unnecessary carnage. That's not good for us. That's not productive," said Drew Greenblatt.
But the only Maryland congressman to reject the bill, Roscoe Bartlett, says his constituents are sick over its passing.
"They were just incensed that we were increasing the debt using their money to bail out Wall Street. They're just angry at Wall Street," said Bartlett.
Bartlett says Congress acted too fast. He says financial leaders and the president sensationalized the weak economic environment, adding unfair pressure on lawmakers.
"For nearly a couple weeks now, they've been running around Washington screaming the sky is going to fall, the sky is going to fall. That unnerved the market, that unnerved our people, and I don't think it was helpful," said Bartlett.
And on Friday Cummings thought he was being responsible by supporting the bill.
"If the Greenblatts of the world have to turn away contracts and therefore have less employees form my district and lose profits, if students at Morgan State and others are thrown out of school, substantial damage may be done, and it may be irreplicable," said Cummings.
Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards also voted for the plan this time around.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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