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Washington • Sen. Bob Bennett, who earned the wrath of GOP delegates and a pink slip for supporting the so-called bank bailout, said Thursday that Congress should be heralded for its fast action to stem a worldwide financial meltdown.
"In a way, that was Congress' finest moment," Bennett said of the negotiations and vote for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, adding later, "In that room, when we crafted that deal, there was not a hint of partisanship because we were all focused on the challenge we faced."
Bennett, speaking on a panel with fellow outgoing members of Congress, said that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Senate Banking Committee members and congressional leaders they had four days until the world's financial system would collapse — and that Congress dutifully prevented it by working together on a solution.
Bennett, who lost his re-election bid and will be succeeded by tea party-backed Sen.-elect Mike Lee, has repeatedly said that he doesn't regret his vote for the TARP program, an $800 billion effort by the government to buy up bad debt from major financial institutions. The money has largely been repaid.
Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, who lost to a Republican candidate, agreed with Bennett that both parties worked well with each other to tackle the issue.
"I do think that was one of Congress' finest moments," Edwards said. "That was one of the proudest votes I made.. … We didn't get too many thanks."
"Well, I got a lot of thanks, but not enough to survive the convention," Bennett quipped, referring to the state Republican event in May where he was denied the party nomination.
The panel discussion, sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a group formed by former Republican and Democratic leaders, involved four members of Congress who lost their re-election bids to conservative Republicans in the Democratic bloodbath Nov. 2.
All four lamented the loss of bipartisanship in the House and Senate, with Delaware Rep. Mike Castle, who lost a GOP primary to tea partyer Christine O'Donnell, saying that he sees the next two years as gridlock, with a GOP-controlled House refusing to give Obama any victories ahead of his re-election bid.
"I don't have hope for very much bipartisanship beyond this tax-cut deal," Castle said.
But Bennett, with only a few weeks to go as a U.S. senator, said he believes the recent example of Vice President Joe Biden reaching out to GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell to hammer out a deal on extending tax cuts beyond this year is a good indication that bipartisanship is still alive.
"At least on the Senate side, there is a glimmer of hope," Bennett said.
The Utah senator did admit that, in the run-up to the Utah Republican Convention, he voted the conservative line on an unnamed issue that he didn't feel strongly about one way or the other because he thought it might help his chances.
But Bennett noted that he also voted to confirm Cass Sunstein, a controversial pick for the president's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
"I voted for him and said, 'Take that.' They did take it, and threw it back at me," Bennett joked.