Statement from U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, who opposed the bailout proposal that failed the House this afternoon:

“Doing something about the current market situation is critically important, but rushing to approve a flawed bill violates the responsibility I have to my constituents.  I could not support forcing the taxpayers to carry the burden of $700 billion in poor financial decisions on Wall Street.  This bill would have fundamentally altered the relationship between the government and our financial system.”

“I believe there are many alternatives that we should explore to help the situation including suspending mark to market accounting, which robs financial institutions of valuable capital.  Many alternatives such as this were presented by House Republicans but were left out.  Instead, we were stampeded into this vote today on a flawed bill.”

“We must go back to work immediately and put all the options on the table in order to craft a plan that can be agreed to by all the parties involved.”