Bailout Rejected: Lawmakers React to Bill's Defeat

Democratic leaders pledged to try to put together another financial rescue bill, but it was unclear whether there was enough support for even a revised plan Monday. Watch the accompanying videos to see how lawmakers reacted during press conferences after the house rejected the bailout bill:

Democratic Leadership Comments

“We shouldn’t have gotten here in the first place. We meet here at a time of great uncertainty for America. The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and Washington has led us to a financial crisis as serious any that we faced since the Great Depression They said they wanted to let the market run free, but instead they let it run wild.”

—Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, Democratic Presidential Candidate

“Today, when the legislation came to the floor, the Democratic side more than lived up to its side of the bargain. By the legislation, they have failed; the crisis is still with us. We know the seriousness of the middle class in our country, whether it is a question of credit for small businesses, homeowners, protecting savings for people, for their pensions, for their retirement. So where we go from here, we still have those concerns.”

—Nancy Pelosi, D-California, Speaker of the House

“This was a very consequential day and ... we needed to come together, not as Republicans or Democrats, and support the President’s request and secretary Paulson’s request to respond to a very difficult challenge facing our country. I regret that the bill did not pass today. We are going to continue to work, as the speaker has said—the bill has failed, the crisis has not disappeared.”

—Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, Majority Leader

“Sixty-seven percent of the Republican conference decided to put political ideology ahead of our great nation. I am hopeful that as we move forward that we can all join hands, step aside from our partisanship and do what’s in the best interest for our country. And I hope that’s what can happen in the next few days.”

—Rep. James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, House Majority Whip

“I am disappointed. I would like nothing better than be proven wrong in the last couple of days. Clearly, a large number of the members of the house don’t believe that there was a great crisis. If in fact that turns out to be the case over the next period, then I will cheerfully admit error and take the rest of the year off.”

—Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, House Financial Services Committee

Republican Leadership Comments

“We could have gotten there today, had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the house. We put everything we had in to getting the votes to get there today. The partisan speech poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get to go south. At the end of the day, it’s not about Democrats and Republicans; it’s about our economy. Regardless of what happened today, we need to work together.”

—Rep. Johnny Boehner, R-Ohio, Minority Leader

“We did think we had a dozen more votes going to the floor than we already had, but unfortunately, too many of our members were already on the floor, when they heard that late speech… During the whole process, the tone in the room was better than the tone outside the room. We worked together well to try to come up with a compromise that could pass today that the President could sign, that would do what needs to be done in the economy…”

—Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, Minority Whip

“Right here is the reason I believe why this vote failed. This is speaker Pelosi’s speech that struck the tone of partisanship that was inappropriate in this discussion. There is and there were several meetings from members of both sides of the aisle and I think this is the case of a failure of speaker Pelosi to listen, not only to her members, but our members but the common bonds that brought our members together. This is not a partisan crisis, this is an economic crisis.”

—Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, Chief Deputy Whip

“I don’t know what happened, I wasn’t on the House floor, but clearly the action could easily have severe ramifications in the equity markets, and it’s not good. We’d like to get this bill through. Right now, we’ve had to take a step backwards. It’s a little early to say where we go from here.”

—Sen. Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire, Budget Committee Ranking Member

More From CNBC.com

• Before the Vote, What Were Lawmakers Saying?
• House Rejects Measure To Rescue Financial Markets
• Dow Down 500 Points as House Rejects Bailout
• Investors Swarm Bonds as House Rejects Bailout

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