As Congress and the Administration continue to work toward a bailout for our financial industry, they should listen to the voices of working people.  Through millions of telephone calls and e-mails pouring into Washington, they are saying, “We want our tax dollars used to provide a hand up for the millions of working people who live on Main Street, and not as a handout to a privileged band of greedy, overpaid executives on Wall Street.”

It is essential that, first and foremost, we provide immediate relief to families all across the country who are bearing the brunt of this economic catastrophe.  We simply cannot solve the economic crisis if we do not begin to rebuild our real economy – starting with our productive capacity and the purchasing power of ordinary Americans.

It is an outrage that a minority of Senators today blocked a broad-based economic recovery and job creation program, even though a majority of Senators voted to proceed. The Senate must work to pass this crucial program this weekend.  Members of the House will be voting this evening, and working families will be watching closely.  Inaction is not an option. Without a robust economic recovery plan for Main Street, Americans will not trust any financial bailout for Wall Street.    

This week alone, nearly 500,000 Americans lost their jobs and filed for unemployment benefits.  The total number of jobless Americans is now nearly 10 million.  Millions are losing their homes to foreclosure and states are being forced to cut vital health care programs and other services that are a lifeline to families in times of crisis.  Rising unemployment, state and local budget cuts and home foreclosures on a massive scale are the fundamental forces weakening our economy.  As the recession deepens, the balance sheets of banks will be splattered with further defaults on credit cards, auto, home, and consumer loans, unless immediate action is taken.

An economic recovery and jobs package must include extended unemployment insurance, fiscal relief for state and local governments and a major investment in our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.

In addition, any bailout for Wall Street that is part of an overall economic recovery package must meet the following conditions:

The bailout should include a moratorium on home foreclosures that gives homeowners a chance to restructure their loans.  There must be strong safeguards ensuring that taxpayer money is spent in the public interest, and that financial elites are not allowed to raid the Treasury under cover of the bailout.  And we must address the weaknesses in our financial regulatory system and corporate governance systems that allowed this disaster to happen.  

America’s working families are counting on our leaders to structure a plan that works for Main Street as well as Wall Street.  If the Wall Street bailout plan fails and ends up squandering hundreds of billions of dollars of the public’s money, the damage will not be limited to the financial system.  Our future and our children’s future depend on focusing our nation on the challenges we face in the real economy: the health care crisis, the infrastructure crisis, the energy and environmental crisis and the jobs crisis.

Contact Steve Smith 202-637-5018