WSFA 12 News Montgomery, AL |Alabama Senators Said No to the Bailout Plan

Alabama Senators Said No to the Bailout Plan

Alabama's two Republican senators said no to the $700 billion bailout plan.  "We haven't done a good enough job in creating a oversight mechanism that'll work," said Senator Jeff Sessions.

Senator Richard Shelby added, "It will not solve problems; it will create problems."

Senator Shelby all along expressed distaste for the plan. He said, "It's flawed and unnecessary to borrow this kind of money. There could have been other approaches."

Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said he had felt the bill would eventually pass. Before the vote, Shelby addressed his colleagues on the Senate floor telling them the nation did not get into this crisis overnight and they couldn't fix it with legislation pieced together so quickly. "We didn't get to where we are today by accident it is a path that we chose," Shelby said.

Governor Bob Riley, a former member of the House, said, while he also disagreed fundamentally with some of the plan's provisions, he would have voted for it.