Simmons on the 90 Percent Tax Bonus Vote: ‘A Run-for-Cover, Cover-Your-Tail Kind of Vote.’

Former congressman Rob Simmons, who is running against Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.) next year, told me Friday he would have voted against the legislation enacting a 90 percent federal tax rate on bonuses at companies that take TARP funds, which passed the House a few weeks ago.

“It was a purely symbolic gesture . . . It didn’t go anywhere, it violates the Constitution, and so it was symbolic.  At a time when we have serious economic problems, I think that that kind of symbolic vote, that sort of run-for-cover, cover-your-tail kind of vote — we don’t have time for that. Congress needs to get serious. Free enterprise is at risk. The global economy is collapsing. And all I see is massive transfers of money from the private sector to the public sector, to be distributed among the public sector, basically. This is no way to recover our economy.”

The whole interview is available in podcast form here.