Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) said the argument from GOP leaders that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) partisan floor speech moved votes and helped doom a Wall Street bailout measure is “stupid.”
{mosads}“I don’t know a single Republican who did [vote against the bill because of Pelosi’s speech],” Shadegg said in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday. “It was a stupid speech by her, but it didn’t move any votes. On an issue of this importance, nobody would be moved by that.”
The lawmaker added that he believes that “hurt feelings” following the lost votes caused House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders to lash out at Pelosi immediately following the bailout plan's failing 205-228 in the House.
“It was embarrassing for leadership of both parties to lose the bill,” Shadegg said. “So they went out and made a stupid claim. But I don't know a single person who changed their vote on the basis of that, or would have.”
Shadegg also stated that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson “got a civics lesson which he desperately needed.” The Arizona Republican blasted Paulson for “arrogantly coming to Congress, giving us four hours' notice of a crisis of generational proportions and then saying
it was his bill or no bill at all.”
Shadegg predicted that the bailout would pass in the end.
“There is no doubt in my mind that a bill is going to pass,” the lawmaker said. “There’s not a member of the Congress who doesn't think some legislation needs to pass to deal with this issue.”