[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 14] [House] [Page 19194] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]McCAIN'S ASSESSMENT OF ECONOMY SHOWS THAT HE REALLY IS NOT AN EXPERT ON THE ECONOMY (Mr. WELCH of Vermont asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. WELCH of Vermont. Mr. Speaker, it's becoming quite apparent that our economy is in peril. The biggest casualty in this economy are middle-class families trying to hang on by their fingernails. We have got a different point of view by our leadership. President Bush says that the 500-point collapse is just, quote, a correction. Mr. McCain, Senator McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. The reality is that the economy has become weak, with policies that have deregulated financial institutions leading to the collapse of some of our longest-standing, historically most solid institutions like Lehman Brothers. For 8 years, the Bush-McCain economic policy has had a radical proposition that we can deregulate everything and leave everything to Wall Street, and it will all take care of itself. Now American families, businesses on Main Street, are beginning to pay the price for this economic failure under the Bush administration. The only way we can change our economy is by returning to the basic principle that our economic policies should all be about building the middle class. ____________________