U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack said his vote for the financial bailout bill was “a lot reluctant,” and that the people responsible for the financial crashed should by identified and punished, perhaps even with prison, at a stop at the Hamburg Inn #2 in Iowa City Tuesday.

“I couldn’t agree more and we have to find out how we got into this mess and then we need to resolve the problem,” Loebsack said, when asked by Maria Conzemius of Iowa City if there was bipartisan blame for the financial crisis. “We need to hold folks accountable who made these mistakes, and if we find malfeasance we ought to punish them with prison terms,” he added.

But Loebsack said the bill was, ultimately, necessary. “When it didn’t pass, you saw what happened in the stock market,” he said of the Dow Jones drop of more than 700 points the day the first version of the bill failed in the House.

Loebsack said the second version of the bill included more provisions for individual homeowners.

“If I had my way, we would have had a quick vote on the Paulson plan and voted it down. But over the course of a week to ten days the plan improved. I was concerned that if we didn’t do anything the consequences would be far worse,” Loebsack said.

Loebsack’s three opponents — Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Green Wendy Barth, and independent Brian White — have all said they would have voted against the bailout.

“This is one of those issues where people really have to search their conscience,” said Loebsack.