Plunderbund

Dear Senators Obama, Biden, Reid, Byrd, Durbin, Dodd, Brown, and Representatives Pelosi, Hoyer, Frank, Wilson, Kaptur*, Kucinich*, Sutton*, Ryan, Space:

With today’s failure of HR 3997 to pass, largely due to the unwillingness of Republicans to support a bipartisan compromise bill, our financial economy continues to stare in the face of a total collapse. Action is urgent, and the American people agree.

My father used to tell me when I was a boy that “every problem is an opportunity to excel.” The unwillingness of the GOP to agree to a compromise – a courtesy they undoubtedly would have not extended had roles been reversed – presents us with a tremendous opportunity to force strong progressive reforms through Congress. We’ve suffered with decades of the GOP ramming through their ideas with no consideration for Democratic positions. Their failure to agree to a compromise on this incredibly important bill underlines the fact that the GOP is not interested in bipartisanship.

It’s time to play hardball. It’s time to excel.

I suggest we draft a strongly progressive bill, emphasizing shoring up Main Street instead of Wall Street, providing a cash infusion to prevent a market collapse, and writing in the regulations necessary to prevent a similar crisis from occurring in the future. Address the concerns of the more liberal Democrats who voted against this bill (three of which are from Ohio’s delegation, and are copied on this letter), and RAM IT THROUGH on a party-line vote in the House.

The fact of the matter is, if the situation is as dire as we all believe, there will be enough Republicans in the Senate to pass a cloture vote and eventually pass the bill. And then it’s up to the President to veto the bill, which I doubt he will unless he wishes to end the Republican Party as we know it.

The time for bold, aggressive action is NOW. Your leadership can mean the difference between the logical conclusions of right-wing economic thought coming to fruition and crushing the middle and lower classes in a massive depression, or the dawn of a great age of progressiveness in the United States.

It’s time to show Republicans what “Country First” really means, and get a progressive bill passed that addresses this crisis.

[* - voted against HR 3997, presumably (given their voting histories) because it wasn't "pro-Main Street" enough]

[This letter will be sent to the people it's addressed to, as soon as the government servers come back online and I can get the correct contact information.]