Rick Santorum on TARP

Summary

Senator Santorum was not in office during the TARP vote. After the vote, he spoke out against the TARP program and bailouts in general. He stated that the program was not in the best long term interests of the country.

 

2010 CPAC

At the 2010 Conservative Political Action Committee, Senator Santorum spoke about his opposition to TARP. He stated that TARP was the wrong thing to do for the country.

Whether TARP was the right thing to do for the economy at the time, it was the wrong thing to do for America, because it set a precedent of crony capitalism and government involvement in the private sector that will ultimately destroy this country.

 

NW Iowa interview

On March 8, 2011 Senator Santorum was asked about bailouts at the Woodbury County Republican Party. The question was 'With the free market in mind, what are your thoughts on bailouts and subsidies?' Senator Santorum responds by discussing the dangers of having an economic system that prevents failures by taking funds from "winners".

 

New Hampshire Debate

In June of 2011, Senator Santorum participated in the Republican debate in New Hampshire. He was asked about the GM bailout and states that there should not have been a TARP or a TARP and GM.

KING: Anyone -- is there anyone here who, given that prospect, and President Bush started the program, given that prospect, anyone here who would have stepped in and said, "I don't want to do this, but this is the backbone of American manufacturing, I'll do something"?

SANTORUM: No, absolutely not. We should -- we should not have had a TARP. We should not have had the auto bailout. Governor Romney's right. They could have gone through a structured bankruptcy without the federal government.

All the federal government did was basically tip to the cronies, tip to the unions, gave the unions the company. If they'd have gone through the orderly bankruptcy process, gone through a structured bankruptcy, they'd have come out in the same place, only we would have kept the integrity of the bankruptcy process without the government putting its fingers into it.

 

Dartmouth Economic Debate

On October 11, 2011 Senator Santorum participated in a debate at Dartmouth University. Senator Santorum asked Herman Cain a question and in doing so claimed that while he opposed TARP, most of the other people on the stage supported it.

 

Sponsored and Cosponsored Legislation

This representative has not been identified as sponsoring or cosponsoring significant legislation related to this title.

References

[1] Website: The Hill Article: Santorum's Take on TARP Author: Christian Heinze Accessed on: 08/23/2011

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