Founded in 1991, the Republican Liberty Caucus works to advance the principles of limited government, free markets and individual liberty within the Republican Party.

According to Politicker Arizona, “Ahead of today’s House vote on the $700 billion bailout package, U.S. Rep. John Shadegg is calling for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.” According to Shadegg:

“Congressional leadership received less than four hours notice before the Secretary publicly warned of an imminent collapse of the market and announced his bailout plan. Clearly, it was his duty to provide Congress and its leaders time to evaluate this situation, and he failed. The Secretary went public with dire warnings, scaring the nation minutes after apprising Congressional leaders of this problem. That is simply unacceptable.”

“The problems in the market today did not occur over night. In the last six months, Secretary Paulson has insisted that the federal government rescue Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and AIG. Each time, Secretary Paulson assured Congress that it would solve the problem. Obviously, Secretary Paulson has been wrong. The American people can no longer have confidence in him and he should submit his resignation, effective immediately,” Shadegg concluded.

[Editor's note: After this blog post was published, Shadegg switched his vote from opposition to the bailout to support of it.]