After years of Party backstabbing and bickering in Washington, a true bipartisan effort has returned to Washington politics. In an unprecedented move, Democrats and Republicans stood together in the US House of Representatives, defying both Party leaderships, the Bush Administration and the Secretary of the US Treasury.
Ninety-five Democrats and 133 Republicans banded together in bipartisan agreement to defeat the $700 billion Wall Street bailout proposed by leaders of the House and the administration.
Doing the will of the people, who have voiced their disapproval in record numbers -- clogging Washington telephone lines, mailboxes and email accounts -- those 228 representatives of the people heard and responded.
Following the bill's defeat, Republican leadership Reps Boehner and Blount blamed that defeat on the partisan attack on Republicans from the floor by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, moments before the vote. But that naive response does not take into consideration that a near equal number of Democratic representatives joined with their Republican counterparts to deny this bill.
While the leadership of both parties has fiddled, the country is burning, and the rank and file of both Democrats and Republicans recognize that the proposed bailout bill is gasoline -- not water.
Speaking yesterday on a local semi-popular liberal radio talk show on WJR in Detroit, both millionaire Rep Darrell Issa (D-CA-49) and Mike Rogers (R-MI-8) voted against the bailout bill, and separately offered similar solutions to solving the financial crisis.
Rogers explained that working outside the party leadership, representatives of both parties are talking and coming to agreements, and looking for ways to find solutions. Their constituents are telling them that they do not trust this bailout plan, and so they are working together to find answers,
Rogers proposed that the FDIC immediately dramatically increase the amount guaranteed in bank deposits, from the $100,000 presently insured. By guaranteeing savings, people will be assured that their money will be safe, and will prevent any runs on the banks like what happened at the beginning of the Great Depression.
Then Rogers proposes that we eliminate the "Mark to Market" accounting practices that have been the prime cause of this crisis. That decision alone would add stability to the marketplace as financial institutions would then be able to determine the actual value of properties in their portfolios.
It is heartening to see Democrats and Republicans working for the people in Congress and not just for their parties. It appears that the so-called rank and file representatives remember why they were sent to Washington. It is sad that the leadership does not.
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