WASHINGTON — Warning that the Wall Street financial crisis threatens bloodshed on Main Street, leaders in the food and consumer products industry have urged Congress to support a so-called “financial bailout” plan. Food Marketing Institute here on Wednesday issued a “key vote card” urging Congress to “to look beyond the rhetoric to the very real hardship being faced by our customers and our associates. A further tightening of the credit market — let alone the full-scale collapse many economists are warning about — would have dire consequences for our industry and our ability to serve our customers.” FMI previously addressed its concern in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week and a vote card ahead prior to the failed House bill vote earlier this week. Separately on Wednesday, A.G. Lafley, chairman and chief executive officer of Proctor & Gamble, had a letter published in the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper urging congressional passage. And at an event Tuesday evening in Rochester, N.Y., Danny Wegman, chief executive officer of Wegmans Food Stores, told a local newscast that “the cost of doing nothing might well exceed $700 billion.” The U.S. Senate was set to vote on an amended bailout plan Wednesday night.
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