A Major New Plan Coming from Donna Edwards, Peter DeFazio, Progressives

by: Matt Stoller

Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 13:56

You guys are amazing. 43 donations in 12 hours is remarkable, not because of the number but because this site spends A LOT of time criticizing Democratic leaders, so turning around and investing your faith in Democratic politicians requires a dexterity of mind and a realistic optimism that we find quite rarely. We're going to shoot for 100 donations, because Better Democrats are the most important thing we can aim for this cycle. And as evidence, this is what having Better Democrats means.

U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR-04), an outspoken critic of the Bush/Paulson bailout, along with Rep. Kaptur (OH-09), Rep. Scott (VA-03), Rep. Cummings (MD-07), Rep. Doggett (TX-25), Rep. Holt (NJ-12), Rep. Edwards (MD-04) and Rep. Hirono (HI-02), will introduce legislation today to address the failures in the financial markets. DeFazio believes that the Paulson/Bush proposal is based on a flawed premise: if the American taxpayers spend $700 billion to buy Wall Street's toxic assets - a plan pundits are calling "trash for cash" - it will create liquidity in our financial markets and will somehow trickle-down to Main Street.
DeFazio's plan is not in any way based on the Paulson/Bush plan. Instead of throwing taxpayer dollars at the program and crossing our fingers that the plan work, the measure will direct the Administration to take five simple steps, suggested by noted economist and former head of the FDIC, William Isaac, to re-regulate the markets and move America towards a healthy financial future.
The legislation will be available at the press conference.
Who: Rep. DeFazio, Rep. Kaptur (OH-09), Rep. Scott (VA-03), Rep. Cummings (MD-07), Rep. Doggett (TX-25), Rep. Holt (NJ-12), Rep. Edwards (MD-04) and Rep. Hirono (HI-02)
What: Press Conference to introduce legislation to fix financial markets
Where: House Radio and TV Gallery
When: 3 pm TODAY

I'm amending my position on a bailout from hell no to HELL YES. Here's a video from the night of Donna's victory, where she thanks OpenLeft for her victory.

We did this. We helped put Donna in office, and she's showing leadership. She's making us proud. And I know many of you gave to her and volunteered for her, and you should be very very proud. For those of you who didn't, you now have another chance to put people into office who will band together, as these progressives are doing, not when it is easy, but when the pressure is on, when it is hard. I know this is an uncertain time, nerves are raw, and we're playing with trillion dollar decisions. But this is when it is most important to stick to our values, to show that progressive leadership IS powerful and IS meaningful and that we will reward those who stand up.

Join us. Give a little today. And in 2009, we'll have a powerful caucus of Better Democrats in the House and the Senate. I can see it now, Donna Edwards, Darcy Burner, Alan Grayson, Jeff Merkley, Annette Taddeo, Sam Bennett, etc.

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