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Sen. Orrin Hatch hopes something gets hammered out today on the economy, or, he says, the country may go further into crisis mode.
Sen. Hatch told Utah's Morning News he doesn't necessarily like the bailout bill, but something needs to be done.
"It's all perception, and the marketplace is going to tank if we don't do something around here. But the question is, what are we going to do?" he asked.
He says it's time Washington stopped the "pathetic" partisanship and started hammering out the bailout plan.
"If we don't do it, every one of those constituents out there is going to get hurt pretty badly. Their savings might be gone. Their 401(k)s might be gone. Maybe not gone, but certainly damaged," he said.
But he's still optimistic.
"Right now we have a financial crisis, there's no question about that. But the underlying economy last quarter actually went along at over 3 percent. That's really pretty good," he pointed out.
He says the current financial crisis actually started in 1999 when President Bill Clinton pushed subprime mortgages for people who could not afford a house.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
