Yarmuth to vote 'Yes' on bailout

With reluctance U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-KY3, said he plans to vote for the economic bailout approved by the Senate.

"I do intend to vote for the Senate bill that is before us today," Yarmuth said during a conference call with local media. "I hate the bill I voted against on Monday, I hate the bill I'm going to vote for today, but I hate it less."

Yarmuth said the bill has made important improvements from the original bailout legislation that failed to pass in the House earlier this week.

"I'm very glad that some of the provisions that have been added will be very helpful to average citizens in Louisville," he says.

The added provisions include an alternative minimum tax, which will save about 30,000 households in Louisville from having their taxes increased, a mental health parity provision, which puts mental health on par with physical health needs and the extension of property tax at a deduction.

Yarmuth says he decided to vote for the "rescue package" primarily because he's convinced that the ongoing economic crisis coupled with the immediate psychological anxiety over the market could lead to an economic meltdown.

"The risk of doing nothing is to great to take and could lead to a longer and deeper recession," he says. "I don't appreciate the position we've been put it, I don't like the position the American people have been put in." Besides blaming the Bush the administration for ratcheting up the fear factor and being unprepared, Yarmuth said Democratic leadership also failed to give the public another option.

"I'm mad at our leadership for not providing an alternative proposal," Yarmuth says.

Before today's vote the freshman Congressman said he had two conversations with Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama this week. Yarmuth said he reached out to Obama on Wednesday and the two had a one-on-one conversation where in an analogy the Illinois Senator explained the bill was imperfect but necessary. Obama told Yarmuth, "all we're doing here is patching up a hole in the boat to get it to port" until the boat can be fundamentally repaired.

LEO Weekly asked Yarmuth if he was worried about the political fallout back home.

"Was it the safe political move for me to make today, no. It never is to change your vote," he says."But I think not only have circumstances changed but the legislation has changed over the last week as well." (PB)