WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Sam Brownback announced that he will vote against the bail-out bill being considered in the Senate tonight.

Brownback released the following statement:

"We are at the front end of an economic recession.

"I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so. The federal government has tools to use to reduce the depth and harm of the downturn and to hasten the recovery. These tools need to be used and used wisely.

"Our growth in exports has kept us out of a recession so far. But now, with financial markets struck with fear and the consumer slowing down, a downturn is occurring.

"What are we to do?

"'First, do no harm' is the Hippocratic Oath that doctors take, and politicians should, too. Let's undo the quarterly "mark to market" requirement that requires companies to mark down their assets and weaken their balance sheets and scares off lenders or debilitates financial institutions. Mark to market should be done in such a way that doesn't lead to bigger financial bubbles or bigger financial bursts. And obviously, we need to update our regulation of financial markets to see that this does not happen again.

"Second, re-instill confidence. Permanently up the FDIC covered amounts to $250,000 and provide capital to tottering institutions as needed and requested, but the taxpayer must be protected. The taxpayer should get some ownership in the institutions participating. We must sell that ownership back into the markets once this situation stabilizes.

"Third, put some gas in the tank. Our economy needs money. We can borrow and spend federal dollars and pass the debt forward or we can free up money in the private sector already. This is what gets you out of a recession - increased economic activity. Do the following for a one-year period: Cut the capital gains tax rate to 5% for assets bought or sold during the year and held for more than 3 years. Allow expensing of depreciable assets purchased. Allow the repatriation of U.S. capital held overseas at a 2% tax rate.

"These moves would put hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy in a one-year time period.

"I've been through economic downturns before and they are tough. Lives are impacted and scarred. As a young lawyer, I represented hard-working farmers caught in the farm crises of the 1980's. I saw farmers, small businesses, and banks struggle to survive. Some didn't make it. Often the biggest thing needed was time. Time to work out the problems.

"Congress needs time to get this right. A rushed $700 billion bailout package is unlikely to produce the long-term results we need. Plus, $700 billion is a lot of money. You could buy all the farm land in the top 16 agricultural producing states in America with that amount of money. Or it could buy 4.4 million Americans a home at the median price in Kansas.

"I applaud the hard work of Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke and their staffs. They are good people.

"But Kansans see this differently than they do. We didn't do much of the subprime mortgage borrowing or lending and now we're asked to pay for it. If that is the case, then we want something that works for the broader economy to get us out of the recession rather than just bailing out a few bad actors and hoping it helps everyone else.

"For these reasons, I intend to vote against the current bailout package.

"I completely agree that we must act, but we must act right."