Shelby stands out as bailout critic

Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), the senior Republican on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, is standing out during the current Wall Street crisis as a critic of top federal officials and their bailout plan. 

“I don’t believe, at this point, up to this point, that the Fed and the Treasury have a comprehensive plan” regarding which companies to help out and which not to aid, Shelby said.

{mosads}Reiterating criticism he had voiced over the weekend, the senator added that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department have “jumped from one crisis to the other.”

In an interview with CNBC, Shelby voiced concerns about whether the $700 billion price tag on an emergency bailout measure would be enough to address the crisis.

Asked whether the government should try to fix the crisis at any cost, Shelby stated: “If we say ‘whatever it takes,’ that means there’s a blank check of the treasury, future generations, to pay for the mistakes of a lot of people.

“Now, I realize that there are problems in the financial sector, but who brought them on? And we’re going to bail these people out,” Shelby added. “Will we benefit ultimately? Maybe. But at a price — a big, big price.”

The senator also stated that a lot of lawmakers “don’t have a lot of confidence” in the Fed and the Treasury Department.

“I believe that the Fed and Treasury could have done something as we look back six, eight months ago, a year ago when the crisis began,” he said. “But they have lost the opportunity. It's gotten out of hand.”