Perry Campaign Press Release - Mr. Romney's Bailout Philosophy Undermines Spending/Deficit Claims

In addition to consistently supporting the 2008 Wall Street bailout, Mitt Romney refuses to rule out future government bailouts, seriously undercutting his new interest in reducing government spending.

"Any proposal from Mitt Romney to reduce government spending that does not end government bailouts is not a serious plan to reduce government spending," said Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan. "While Mr. Romney continues to put Wall Street over Main Street, Rick Perry is a real fiscal conservative whose economic plan ends Washington and Wall Street bailouts, cuts taxes and federal spending and balances the budget by 2020."

From the Oct. 11, 2011 Los Angeles Times:

GOP debate: Mitt Romney defends Wall Street bailouts

In Tuesday evening's presidential debate from New Hampshire, Mitt Romney defended the Wall Street bailouts-the No. 1 target of conservative and tea party rage. Romney said the bailouts had been mismanaged, but he supported the actions taken by the George W. Bush administration to "make sure you don't lose the country and you don't lose the financial system." [1]

During the debate, Romney also refused to rule out another Wall Street bailout.

Romney was asked, "So would you or would you not be open to another Wall Street bailout?"

In his answer, Romney said, "You do want to make sure that we don't lose the country and we don't lose our financial system and we don't lose American jobs, and that all the banks don't go under. So, you have to take action very carefully to make sure that you preserve our currency and preserve our financial system." [2]

Rick Perry opposes bailouts and issued a statement before the TARP vote to remind Congress, "In a free market economy, government should not be in the business of using taxpayer dollars to bail out corporate America." [3]

Below are examples of Mitt Romney supporting the Wall Street bailout from 2008-1010:

2008: "I think it's something that we have to pursue at this stage." [4]

2009: "Though I know we didn't all agree on TARP, I happen to believe it was necessary to prevent a cascade of bank collapses." [5]

2010: "I think had President Bush and Secretary Paulson and Ben Bernanke not pushed for a TARP-type program, we were going to be in a free fall that would cause the collapse of not just a few banks in Wall Street, but banks all over the country, killing not only a few jobs but all the jobs in this country ... It was the right thing to do." [6]

Sources:

[1] "GOP debate: Mitt Romney defends Wall Street bailouts," Los Angeles Times, 10/11/11, http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/11/news/la-pn-romney-bailouts-20111011

[2] Republican presidential debate, 10/11/11, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mUYM2KQJc4&t=26m24s (26:24 mark)

Republican presidential debate full transcript, Washington Post, 10/11/11, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republican-debate-transcript/2011...

[3] Statement from Gov. Rick Perry, 10/1/08, http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/11363/

[4] Mitt Romney CNBC interview, 9/22/08, http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=864375963 (2:54 mark)

[5] Mitt Romney speech to CPAC, 2/27/09, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQrByrnvHeA&t=1m0s (1:00 mark)

[6] Mitt Romney Fox News interview, 1/28/10, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX6T-U8Ll8&t=3m8s (3:08 mark)