To Spend or Not to Spend

It’s always interesting when Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker vote on opposite sides.

Last night, Sen. Corker voted to block the incoming Obama Administration from getting the second half of the $750 financial industry bailout passed in October of last year.

But Sen. Alexander agreed with the Democrats that the money should be released and spent as planned.

Quoth Alexander:

“I voted today the same way I did in October because both the current president and the incoming president have said this is an essential insurance policy against financial catastrophe. This is not spending; this is lending money with interest that taxpayers should get back. I would not have voted this way if President-elect Obama had not assured us that he will use this money as it was intended: to keep credit flowing by strengthening financial institutions and housing markets, and not for new industry-by-industry bailouts.”

Corker, on the other hand, says:

“This was a painful vote for me. […] I voted against releasing any additional TARP funds because I am concerned that we are treating the symptoms and not addressing the root problem.

“I voted for the TARP legislation in October because I felt we needed a systemic approach to restarting the engines of our financial system. The initial infusion of capitol from the TARP program was allocated in an ad-hoc way and there remains significant stress in our credit markets. We need to restore confidence to our financial system through a prescriptive and clear path forward.”

Corker’s argument is that Obama shouldn’t get the money because the Bush Administration is incompetent. Well, duh. You knew the Bush Administration was incompetent when you voted “yes” to the bailout last October (or at least you should have known), but now it’s time to give the Obama economic team (who you claim to “greatly respect”) a chance to do the job right.

If we refuse to let the Obama Administration do anything the Bush Administration was bad at, well, we might as well shut down the entire Executive Branch right now.

I applaud Alexander for his bi-partisan vote.

I worry that Corker is turning into a kneejerk obstructionist/partisan hack (especially after becoming a GOP darling for his leading role in blocking a GM bailout) -- which may be good for his career in Washington but bad for America. It’s too soon to know for sure, but it is definitely something to keep an eye on.