Bailout Vote Switcher Explains Her Reasons

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ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

Democrat Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona is one of the Democrats who voted against the bill on Monday and voted in favor of it. Today, she's also one of the freshman members we started following when this congress came to town almost two years ago. And she joins us from Capitol Hill. Welcome back.

Representative GABRIELLE GIFFORDS (Democrat, Arizona): Thanks for having me.

SIEGEL: What made you change?

Representative GIFFORDS: Well, the bill that we voted on Monday, I felt, was rushed to the floor too quickly, had a lot of problems, not enough protections for taxpayers and the general public, I think didn't understand the ramifications of every piece of this legislation. I voted no because my job is to work hard to represent the voices for Arizona. The bill has changed significantly. The Senate has added an important piece of legislation. Some of it, I don't like. A lot of it, I don't like. But the bill is better. And ultimately, with the financial crisis that's potentially facing this nation right now, I thought that it'd be irresponsible to not vote yes.

SIEGEL: You sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer saying, earlier this week, that one of your problems with what happened in the session was they hadn't voted on the extension of the solar investment tax credit, hadn't been signed into law. That's part of the package that that we stay (unintelligible).

Representative GIFFORDS: Is it.

SIEGEL: Is it solar investment tax that made the difference for you?

Representative GIFFORDS: Solar energy and the extension of the investment tax credits for renewable energy has been a mission of mine. I've delivered eight speeches on the house floor. I've had almost 20 meetings in my district solely on solar energy. The future for this country when it comes to our dependency on foreign oil, climate change, being able to make sure that we can control our energy prices depends on renewables. And the fact that we've gotten to the very end of the session and not come up with an extension of the renewables that were due to expire at the end of the year, I thought was completely unacceptable. So for me, that was a deal-breaker.

SIEGEL: But it's arguably, just not germane, I mean I understand anything about the economy can be considered germane but then you had this financial rescue before you. Is it fair to say this was a bit of a Christmas tree ornament that was added to bill?

Representative GIFFORDS: The bill on Monday was completely unpalatable. For many reasons, the bill is better. The FDIC limits for example have been increased from 100,000 to 250,000. I think that's going be helpful to restore confidence for people to keep their money at local community banks and credit unions. But ultimately, we looked at the $700 billion that was going to help the market. The tax credits weren't included there. They're meant to help the average people. Tax credits like the Child Tax Credit which lowers the floor to qualify for the credit to $8500 and in my district, we have thousands of people take this tax credit. Also, the property tax credit for federal taxes was included in this legislation. So there were a lot of credits in there including the (unintelligible) that I thought made the bill better and actually helped Main Street. Again, this bill is far from perfect but it is a better bill and its going to help taxpayers not just Wall Street.

SIEGEL: Just one last quick one before I let you go, did the tide of comment from your constituents turn between Monday and Wednesday? Has it been consistently against? Has it been divided? How do you describe it?

Representative GIFFORDS: Thousands of people have contacted my by phone or by email. Initially until Monday, the calls are running almost 100-1 don't vote for this. Now, the calls have changed. Not that everyone is in favor because believe me, they're not. People are still very, very angry. But people now understand that it's a very difficult situation that we're in.

SIEGEL: Gabrielle Giffords, a U.S. Representative from Arizona, Democrat. Thank you very much for talking with us once again.

Representative GIFFORDS: Thank you so much.

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