“That was a red flag for many of us,” English said.

Another objection was allowing tax dollars to pay for “golden parachutes” for executives of Wall Street firms that get funding from the bailout. A golden parachute is a lucrative benefits package for an employee who leaves a company.

“There’s little oversight to this program,” English said.

“My assessment of the bill on Monday remains my assessment today: that this bill fails to meet the minimum thresholds of including real consequences for bad actors, strong taxpayer protections and accountability and transparency of any tax dollars used,” English said.

Peterson’s statement said he disagrees with portions of the bill and wouldn’t have supported them had they have come up under normal circumstances.

With the nation’s economy in trouble, “voting to support this legislation may not be popular with many of my constituents, but it was the right thing to do in an effort to salvage our way of life, and get our economy back on track,” the statement said.

The legislation also includes tax extensions on renewable energy development for wind, solar, and geothermal – which are necessary to achieve energy independence, according to the statement.

The bill also reauthorizes the Secure Rural Schools Program, which provides funding for school districts in counties surrounding the Allegheny National Forest and many western states where the federal government owns a large amount of land, Peterson said.

The rescue plan — initially a three-page request from the Bush administration for unlimited power to use $700 billion any way it saw fit to stabilize markets — swelled to more than 450 pages as negotiators added restrictions for the administration and sweeteners for anxious members of Congress.

Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.