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TechnoratiA Congress That Can Say 'No!'
Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett, one of the few members of the US House with a steady track record of keeping his head at chaotic moments, was not impressed by the fact that the Bush White House and Democratic and Republican congressional leaders had come together to support a $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street's worst players.
"Like the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, this bill is fueled by fear and haste," declared Doggett, a former jurist who has a habit of keeping his head when others in the House fail to do so.
What was different this time was that the populist Democrat with a record of casting votes that do not come to embarrass him, was on the winning side of the House division.
Unlike 2001, when the White House and congressional leaders forged a bipartisan combination to pass the Patriot Act; unlike 2002, when the powerful players in the executive and legislative branches crossed party lines to form a united front to give President Bush unprecedented war-making powers, the fight over the bailout plan that was backed by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate finished differently.
In one of the last monumental votes of an era of legislative dysfunction, courage and prudence prevailed over fear and haste.
The coalition that rejected the bailout bill by a 228-205 vote Monday was truly bipartisan.
It was not made up of powerbrokers coalescing to evoke the elite consensus that once led another Texas populist-- Jim Hightower-- to suggest that "America does not need a third party. We need a second party."
The 95 (mostly) liberal Democrats and the133 (mostly) conservative Republicans who blocked the rush on Monday to pass the bailout bill were the dissenters of both parties-- the outriders from the established order.
They do not usually unite--although it has happened a few times in recent years on trade votes. And they do not usually hold together in the face of whipping--not to mention outright bribery--by party leaders.
But this bailout bill was so poorly crafted and so misguided in its priorities that it welded together dissident Democrats and renegade Republicans to say "no."
The debate was remarkable. Sometimes liberals sounded like conservatives. Sometimes free-marketeers came off as radicals. (Texan John Culberson mustered a populism few thought the conservative Republican had in him when he declared, "This legislation is giving us a choice between bankrupting our children and bankrupting a few of these big financial institutions on Wall Street that made bad decisions.")
Ultimately, however, it was the word "no"--and the ability to utter it in the form of a roll-call vote--that united all sides. That and the threat of an election where voters may not be inclined to reward members of the House and Senate who seem to be more concerned about Wall Street than Main Street.
Few of the free-market purists on the Republican side shared the objection of Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair Joe Baca, D-California, who said of the bailout bill, "There's nothing in here that guarantees new jobs, nothing that guarantees salary increases. And that's a huge problem."
Few of the progressive Democrats who opposed the measure agreed with Michigan Republican Thaddeus McCotter, who worried that the government's entry into the marketplace might limit what he vaguely referred to as "economic freedom" - but what sounded more like survival-of-the-fittest capitalism.
Yet, on Monday, urged on by two of the Capitol's more consistent dissenters, California Republican Darrell Issa and Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur--who developed something of a rogue coalition to whip the "no" votes--the outsiders briefly became the bosses of Capitol Hill.
It may only have been one vote on one day. And the powers that be will scramble to reestablish their position.
But Monday's rejection of a bad bailout offered an indication of the republic that might be - if members of Congress voted with the courage and the conscience that the founders intended when they imagined a chamber that was to be "the people's House."
29 Comments so far
Show AllBEWARE BAILOUT RD 11, NEW SHADE OF LIPSTICK
By David Swanson
SNIP:
I want a bill immediately to ban predatory mortgage lending, ban states
from preventing cities from restricting predatory lending, and commit
the federal government to allowing states full freedom to restrict
predatory lending.
I want a bill establishing a maximum wage at 10 times the minimum wage,
and including all forms of income in that calculation (and raising the
minimum wage how ever much required to pass the bill). I want the tax
system created by that bill to pay for any necessary bailouts, and want
such bailouts enacted and overseen by Congress.
I also want a Tobin tax on all transactions in finance, insurance, and
real estate, including currency transactions.
I want Congress to haul fraudulent bankers into Washington and force
them to testify, fire them without compensation as part of any bailouts,
and refer them to the Justice Department for prosecution.
I want serious regulation of Wall Street.
I want a five-year moratorium on foreclosures, and a bailout of
homeowners equal to any bailout of bankers.
And, finally, I want $700 billion invested in green energy jobs
immediately, to be paid for by a tax on carbon emissions.
In fact, I would like to see all of these steps included in a single
bill called the "Honest Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008."
Somebody explain to me why that wouldn't be a good move for our economy
and a smart political step for those who propose it.
THE USA NEVER WAS A DEMOCRACY, IT IS A PLUTOCRACY. THIS A COUNTRY THAT REFLECTS THE "DEVINE RIGHT OF KING' AND THE NOBLES OBLIGE, MENTALITY THAT PERVADES IT. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THUS AND IT CONTINUES. FOR THOSE WHO WOULD WANT OTHER IT WILL REQUIRE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TRULY DEMOCRATIC REALITY UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE HERE IN THE USA BECAUSE IT IS THE GOAL OF GOVERNMENT TO KEEP EDUCATION UNDERFUNDED AND THE POPULATION IGNORANT.
Isn't this interesting. The senate is now in the middle of a "Fool me once, Fool me twice sequence. I feel that if the congress capitulates and adopts the Paulson, Mr. Money Czar" plan, we will have ceased to exist as a republic and the congress has become a rubber stamp in the same mode that Stalin had his Duma do his rubber stamping.
The U.S. Senate is irritatingly going to try to ram through a WORSE more conservative bailout bill tonight - please urge your Senators to VOTE NO on this odious bill, and wait for the progressive DeFazio bailout bill, which is worthy of our support. My hope is the House will have a backbone and tell the Senate to stuff it!
If it was good enough for Cheney, it's good enough for me, therefor, to Wall St., a hearty, "Go fuck yourself."
It's also true that votes were very much based on how much corporate money the congressperson had received from Wall Street firms.
I knew Dennis would be on the NOES, of course Sheila Jackson-Lee, Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey yet where were you Maxine? Congresswoman Waters you echoed my sentiments verbatim less than 48 hours prior to this vote, why did you change your mind?
I was amazed Franks[AZ]and Issa were NOE's, not at all that Tancredo was an AYE. Tancredo was ranting about all followers of al Islam, later that day it was that Schmuck Franks[AZ]turn. Why are they allowed on the House Floor to shout out lies and by the use of Hate Speak egregiously demonize, tear down, cause undue harm to, not to mention incite anti-Islam violence. The House Floor, no First even in the Capitol Building.
BillofRights
I can't remember who suggested it, but for 700 billion we could start several banks that could refinance mortgages and refer the fraudulent loans for prosecution of the crooks.
On BBC America they interviewed a woman who needs to refinance because the term of her loan is up. She can't find a bank even though she can afford the payments and hasn't even been late on any of them. The house dropped in value on paper, so foreclosure will happen soon.
It is nuts to toss her out and add another empty house to the market and destroy her credit rating. Until a plan attacks this problem this way we are throwing good money to bad people.
This must be decided by a popular referendum, not by one man with ties to the perpetrators.
Individuals who made out like bandits during the Bush years are the ones that should have to pay.
I'm not a Democrat but I do feel proud of Reps.De Fazio, Sheila Lee Jackson, Marcy Kaptur, Earl Blumenauer, Lynn Woolsey, Dennis Kucinich and others who defied the leadership. They deserve support and encouragement. I will call their offices tomorrow to thank them.
Opal
Without anarchy there will be no change
raydelcamino: I think the Republicans that voted no on this bill may have been setting up a scenario that would allow McCain to ride in on the White Horse and save the day. We will see how the next vote goes and if McCain takes over or shares paulsons's leadership for guiding the bill through the House-if all those Republican "nays" turn into "ayes" we know we were again screwed by the Republican spin doctors.
Dogget for President in 2012 !
Seriously, if Congress had more folks like him who knew where to get their focus and thinking straight, this country wouldn't be in the mess that it is in.
Congress will only be consistent when we get rid of both parties and reset the Congress.
Dear Sunlighter,
Today, the Sunlight Foundation is calling on Congress to
exercise restraint and increase legislative transparency by
posting the next version of the financial bailout legislation
online for at least 72 hours before bringing the bill to a vote.
We believe all legislation should posted online for at 72 hours
before a vote to give lawmakers and citizens sufficient time to
review and debate it, and this bill is no exception.
That's why we just created a petition --
http://readthebillfirst.org -- that urges Congress to wait at
least until 72 hours after the publication of the next version
of this bill, before moving to a vote.
The failure of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
on Monday, September 29, 2008, is a case in point. The bill was
posted online late Sunday afternoon, and voted on less than 24
hours later.
This isn't a bill to rename a few courthouses; this bill is
Congress's biggest intervention in the economy in decades. This
important legislation deserved more time for public scrutiny.
Please join us in our call for legislative transparency by
signing the petition at http://readthebillfirst.org
You can review and comment on the Emergency Economic Stabilization
Act on PublicMarkup.org -- http://tinyurl.com/4q3zvn -- too.
Our Party Time site -- http://PoliticalPartyTime.org -- is also
doing its part to shine a light on how the financial sector is
wining and dining the very lawmakers in Congress who are making
the decisions about the most massive proposed bailout of
industry in history. Based on the anonymously submitted
invitations we've received, we now count 357 parties this year
planned for or featuring members of the two crucial committees
that are the first stops for considering the administration's
$700 billion bailout request for the financial sector. See the
full list of parties here: http://tinyurl.com/3htbev.
And be sure to check out our blog post here --
http://tinyurl.com/3lq3d7 -- about the finance industry's
investment over the past 18 years attempting to influence
Congress. The post includes a very cool interactive graph
showing their spending, and a YouTube tutorial video explaining
the graph.
Thanks for all that you do,
Gabriela Schneider & the Sunlight team
Hey Mordechai, Too bad about the brainwashed masses eh?, Especially the ones who played it "straight". The little punkers, will always stand up for themselves, same with the Mexicans, the Blacks, the Arabs, the Burners and all the other subgroups that have nobody but eachother to depend on.
So who stands up NOW? Ball one, They will push at it again, with a smaller power margin, if that fails they will try again some other way.... Untill everybody knows where the knife cuts and which way.
Hey it happened in Albania, as it happened in Texas. ALL pyramid scams end up like this.
But this time we have NAMES and FACES, and we know who WON the game.
Let's play FOLLOW THE MONEY!!!! Our celebrity accountants will go first to the CAYMAN Islands!
Yachts, Estates, Racehorses! All for the good of AMERIKKKA!!! Honey! There is a camera crew at the door, they say they've come for the WARHOL COLLECTION!
The bolshevik's they INVENTED MEDIA! Every film editor knows the truth...
Senator Obama's eagerness to support the Bush/Paulson bailout suggests that his opposition to the Iraq War Resolution would not have been a slam dunk had he been in the Senate for that vote.
It certainly does appear that knowing they must find a way to get on the other side of Bush, the McCain campaign and GOP leaders were hoping the bailout would pass with Obama leadership.
Though partisanship implies unthinking loyalty to ideals, it also suggest having ideals. I'm not quite sure how the ideals of either Dems or the GOP are represented in support of the bailout as currently stated.
Bailing out the banking industry without ensuring payback and oversight of use of funds or having some assurance of its success goes against Dem ideals. Market interference of this magnitude goes against GOP ideals.
Yup.
A Congress that is finally doing it's job. It's listening to and considering the needs of the people. It's what they are supposed to do anyway, isn’t it? So once in the past 7 years the Congress has done its job. Congratulations but it’s way too late. The ship is sinking and no partisanships will save it.
Hoa binh
"Among 38 incumbent congressmen in races rated as "toss-up" or "lean" by Swing State Project, just 8 voted for the bailout as opposed to 30 against: a batting average of .211.
By comparison, the vote among congressmen who don't have as much to worry about was essentially even: 197 for, 198 against."
One refusal to swallow does not a summer make.
It remains to be seen whether they'll merely shuffle the cards, but still deal from the bottom of the deck.
Trust me on this, any bail out bill will be dealt from the bottom of the deck no matter which side is dealing.
I still haven't seen the proof of this catastrophoic crisis. Paulson said if we didn't act in 24 hrs. the sky would fall. Then we had to pass a bill by the weekend or monday there would be no money. Dogget is right about the fear and......
As usual the key word is 'fear.'
As usual it has no basis. I've already lost at least half my IRA, the equity in my house, that my family has lived in for 15 years. I will not endorse, have not endorsed, this nightmare when an equivalent was sent through the house at the same time with no input from the electorate.
I am committed to aiding Paulson in his quest for Bush's booty. I will never sign onto this.
My suggestion is that the shareholders of the institutions in trouble bail out their own companies, paying a certain amount in for each share they own. After all, aren't they, the owners, responsible for their company? Shareholders have been draining money out of these institutions, they can now put it back or have their shares become valueless.
This seems like common sense and fair play.
baruchzed - Haven't you heard that the whole point of a corporation is to eliminate loss to the owners. All profits and no loss to the shareholders, at least from the company's bad behavior. Losing money on the value of the shares? Well now that's another thing; they call that gambling. No protection there. And as we all know, the "house" always wins. But maybe not this time though it may be too soon to tell because the dice are loaded and haven't truly stopped rolling yet.
I disagree you raydelcamino. Ron Paul, Dennis Kuchinich, Lloyd Doggett among others have always acted for the people with courage and conviction. So, I can't buy the blanket statement that all of congress voted out of fear.
I agree that perhaps most did. And that is fine, it is up to us to force our congressmen to do the right thing or vote them out. Thats how this system is setup. I commend my fellow citizens who are finally making that happen by swamping their congressman's office with email, phone calls and faxes on this issue.
But, as reported on McClathy, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/53109.html , the criminal financial class will be fighting back hard. And the corporate owned media will be working very hard at scaring, confusing, and/or distracting the public. So, it falls to us, 'the massses', to stay united in our opposition and keep congress very afraid of losing the election if they vote for this immense rip-off of the taxpayers.
And while we are at it, it would be good to remember:
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
-- Thomas Jefferson
No "courage" was displayed in the 9/29 vote. The only congresspeople that voted against the bailout were those facing tough re-election campaigns...they voted out of fear of losing.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll674.xml House Vote 9-29-2008
Nannie September,
What is your intention to publish this vote? Should the American people vote other THAN for those who supported this bill? Should we ask Nader to name those in a long speech vilifying this country and those who would want to become rich on the backs of average people who just want to get by?
The wealthy in this country are those that are continually supported by this government so that they can prove that it is possible for very few to achieve wealth, power and general well-being. Why would you care that new a better means are always being devised by the thieves on Wall Street, with government collusion, to fleece the majority of the population.
The general idea Nannie September is that if people are hungry and kept working at least 14 hours of every day including week-ends and holidays they have little chance to complain or to take action against the royalty of the USA. There is no place in this country, the USA to educate and create a better human being for this world as purpose, you should know this.
Why do you want to meddle in the affairs of the voters and of the people to continue to fleece their electorate of the little left that they have to live. You have these strange ideas of fairness, kindness, love and caring for others, Nannie why are you so foolish? Allow the USA and the developed world continue their race to annihilation without challenge. WAKE UP TO REALITY!
Howdy IKE October,
You know me, I just want the best for everybody.
Nannie October...
I agree. Few of the dissenters voted with their constituents in mind. They voted "no" because they are in a tough reelection race or because of free market ideology. We'll have a bailout plan before the weekend which will probably be worse than what was rejected. Save the celebratory speeches.