Taxpayers let their voices be heard loud and clear on Monday as the House was preparing to vote on the bailout package. The flood of phone calls and emails helped convince enough Congressmen to defeat the $700 billion package.
Today the struggle has moved to the Senate where it is expected that a vote will be held this evening. Twenty-six groups joined the National Taxpayers Union in signing an open letter urging Senators to vote against this bailout. You can read it here. We also urge concerned citizens to continue to contact their Senators to make sure the message gets through. Senator Christopher Bond (202) 224-5721 http://bond.senate.gov/contact/contactme.cfm Senator Claire McCaskill (202) 224-6154 http://mccaskill.senate.gov/contact/ D.C. and local district office numbers are available on your Senators' web sites. You can look up that information here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm In case the Senate's web servers crash like the House's did on Monday, you can also look up contact information here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt More Resources: Below is a Vote Alert that NTU sent to each Senate office earlier today: NTU urges all Senators to vote "NO" on the $700 billion financial industry bailout plan. This unconscionable scheme forces the vast majority of taxpayers who were honest and prudent to bail out firms on Wall Street that made bad business decisions. This version of the legislation heaps on even more bad policy to the original proposal, including an amendment from Sen. Sanders (I-VT) to impose a punitive tax hike on wealthy individuals. Other provisions, such as those for renewable energy, are a cynical exercise in vote-buying. Furthermore, the bill does nothing to address the root causes of today's market difficulties. The long-term effects of this fiasco, including inflation, a weaker dollar, and an even more precarious federal balance sheet, are almost certain to outweigh the shallow short-term stabilization of moneyed interests who have been twisting arms on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Tellingly, amendments to improve the bill from a taxpayer perspective have been forbidden. Congress helped to create this debacle with the Community Reinvestment Act, poor tax policies, hastily designed mark-to-market regulations, and spectacular negligence with regard to the systemic risks posed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Instead of addressing those core problems, this disgraceful plan snatches $700 billion from the pockets of hard-working Americans, the vast majority of whom had no part in this horrific play. Congress apparently decided to listen to a few political heavy-hitters in the financial community about the need to shovel boatloads of taxpayer money into their faltering businesses, rather than listening to their constituents who have stridently opposed this giveaway. Surely some Senators will reap what they have sown at the ballot box for their shocking negligence of taxpayers' concerns. Cloture and final passage votes on the bailout will be among only a handful in the last decade to receive the highest weight of 100 in our annual Rating of Congress. -------------------------------------------------- Visit the web address below to tell your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors how they can GET INVOLVED! http://ga1.org/join-forward.html?domain=ntu_action&r=T7AVFtK1--kf If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for NTU's Taxpayer Action Center at: http://ga1.org/ntu_action/join.html?r=T7AVFtK1--kfE -------------------------------------------------- If you would like to unsubscribe from NTU's Taxpayer Action Center, you can respond to this email with "REMOVE" as the subject, or you can visit your subscription management page at: http://ga1.org/ntu_action/smp.tcl?nkey=wuw5ub5f13e8wi6&; National Taxpayers Union 108 N. Alfred St. Alexandria, VA 22314 **************Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and calculators. (http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall00000001) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ This is a Free Speech forum. The owner of this list assumes no responsibility for the intellectual or emotional maturity of its members. If you do not like what is being said here, filter it to trash, ignore it or leave. If you leave, learn how to do this for yourself. If you do not, you will be here forever. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
