Thank you for getting in touch with me about the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (P.L. 110-343). It's good to hear from you.
I know that taxpayers are mad as hell, and so am I. They've watched Wall Street executives pay themselves lavish salaries. They've watched irresponsible lending practices. They've watched Wall Street gamble on risky investment mechanisms. Now those very same Americans who've worked hard and played by the rules are being asked to pay the bill for those who didn't.
Time and time again we have seen the consequences of loose regulations and wimpy enforcement. Time and time again I voted for more teeth and better regulation. I voted to get the lead paint out of toys and the lead out of the bureaucracy at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I voted to strengthen Federal Drug and Administration (FDA) to make sure it didn't approve dangerous drugs. I also worked to stop predatory lending and flipping in the mortgage market.
I remember back in 1999 when this banking mess got started. I was one of the nine Senators who voted against the bill that got rid of the division between investment banks and commercial banks. It lowered the bar on regulation and allowed for casino economics.
Now, we are facing a credit crisis that affects everyone - from people getting loans for college, to the small business owner who depends on credit to buy inventory. If we do not deal with this credit crisis, I believe that the Main Street economy will have to pay the bill for the bailout and pay the bill again in lost jobs, and in shrinking retirement and pensions.
Regrettably, this rescue is necessary to restore confidence and stability in our economy. The final version that passed is vastly improved from the three page bill that President Bush and Secretary Paulson originally sent to Congress. It protects tax payers, provides oversight and transparency, and rejects using tax payer dollars to finance golden parachutes for Wall Street CEOs. That's why I voted for it. This legislation was necessary to protect our economy, our middle class, and our way of life. But I heard the taxpayers loud and clear. Much more needs to be done to provide for rigorous reform and retribution against those who broke the law.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act was passed by both the House and Senate, and was recently signed into law by the President. Knowing of your views was very helpful to me, and I will keep them in mind. If you'd like to read more, I encourage you to visit the "News Room" page of my website at http://mikulski.senate.gov/Newsroom/PressReleases/index.cfm where you can read the transcripts of my three floor statements on this issue.
Again, thanks for contacting me. Please let me know if I can be of help to you in the future.
Sincerely,
Barbara A. Mikulski
United States Senator
P.S. If I can be of further assistance in the future,
please visit my website at http://mikulski.senate.gov/
or call my Washington D.C. office at 202-224-4654
Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.
Friday, October 10, 2008
A letter from Senator Mikulski ..
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6 comments:
What did your letter to her say?
I think they should have just the whole thing collapse - I'm ready for some Mad Max action...
Chris,
Unfortunately I don't think I kept a copy of that letter, but I can summarize for you. The basic message was that I was less than happy to see people who acted irresponsibly (homeborrowers and bankers alike) being bailed out at the expense of those who did not (even if it is in everyone's interest). Then I added that we are in a HUGE hole and face a looming disaster if our politicians continue to think only in terms of election cycles while ignoring the massive debts and unfunded liabilities we are accumulating. That was it in a nutshell, but it was more about the long term fiscal crisis than the current bailout. Nonetheless, as is typical, I got a canned letter about the current issue. A while back I wrote letters concerning the absurd farm bill and got three letters (from different Congressmen) that were at best remotely related to what I said. And people wonder why the approval rating of Congress is at 10%?
As far as I know, Sen. Mikulski is quite popular considering she received nearly 65% of the vote in her last race.
And are you still paying attention to meaningless "Congress-as-an-institution" polls?
I am a little curious as to what you were expecting here...a personal phone call?
People love to vote for the policitians that can deliver the pork so it is little wonder that most implanted politicians are highly rated in their districts while the group as a whole fails miserably in the national view.
Now that you mention it, a personal phone call would have been nice, but maybe I forgot to leave my phone number. And just to be fair to both sides of the isle, I was most disappointed in the letter I received from Rep. Bartlett concerning the farm bill. It was as if he and his staff completely ignored my letter and sent me a rambling propaganda flier as a response. So if you thought I was criticizing Sen. Mikulski specifically you are mistaken.
No, it's just pointless to give a rating to a political institution that has two opposing viewpoints within that one institution. What does it even mean? People don't like government and politicians as a whole? And...???? It's just a really pointless exercise that says nothing about the types of policies that the public would like to see enacted.
You are right, it would be great if you could get a call, I just think you're being a little unrealistic about the level of staff it would take for someone representing nearly 6 million people to call every constituent who writes them a letter. Politicians with lower numbers of constituents are generally better about this. In fact, I once got two very specific replies from a Congressman whose district I once lived in.
I do find it rather amazing how undemocratic this entire bailout process has become and how representatives seem to think that they know better than their constituents. It still took a staffer some time to process Dan's email, copy the canned response in there, and hit reply. I think I personally would have preferred a two sentence customized reply from the staffer, saying "Sen. Mikulski got your email, but she thinks this is the right way to vote." Or, better yet, our representatives could actually vote with their constituents when they speak en masse, and their offices wouldn't be flooded with emails to respond to!
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