My Rep., one of them anyway, has a brain!

[and-justice-for-all]

-- I sent him an email stating my hell No position on the this 'bail-out' and he had the rationality and reason to know right from wrong. I hope he gets re-elected!

When Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson came to Congress with his plan to rescue the economy, I was outraged. The original Paulson bailout plan requested a blank check for $700 billion with no strings attached for the Secretary to purchase "toxic assets," with no provisions to protect taxpayers. Under that plan, Congress wouldn't have been allowed to review his decisions and neither would the federal courts.

Fortunately for taxpayers, that plan was dead on arrival. Instead, Democratic and Republican negotiators from the House and Senate sat down with Secretary Paulson and constructed a new plan that protects taxpayers and ensures a full repayment of the money loaned in the rescue program. These Congressional negotiators had a number of important demands that formed the basis of the bipartisan compromise package that was brought to the floor on Monday, September 29, 2008. First, the bill establishes four layers of oversight to ensure strict supervision of the purchases by the new Office of Financial Stability within the Treasury Department. Two separate independent investigators, a special Congressional panel, and the courts will all have the ability to oversee this new program.

Second, unlike the initial proposal, the taxpayer money on the line will be protected in several ways. All profits from the sale of purchased assets will go to pay the cost of the program. All participating companies will be required to give the government stock options, so we can share in their future profits. In case a participating company goes into bankruptcy, the government will be first in line to seize their assets and get repaid. And, in five years, if the government has not recouped the entire cost of the program, then the President must propose a plan to recover the remainder-from the financial industry only.

Third, I insisted to the House negotiators last week that this plan must rescue regular Americans, not overpaid CEOs. The final bill prevents companies participating in the program from providing multi-million dollar "golden parachute" severance packages to their executives. It also ends the tax incentives for participating companies to provide outrageous salaries to their top executives and prohibits compensation that promotes extreme risk taking. The bill also forces executives to give past bonuses back to their companies when we inevitably discover that they manipulated the books. In addition to these provisions, I support the ongoing FBI investigations of executives from Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and other companies; and I will work to ensure Congress supports the work of these investigators in every way possible.

As a taxpayer myself, I am sick that the government has been forced to intervene to stop the irresponsible actions of a few on Wall Street from dragging the rest of us into an economic depression. But while workers' wages have not increased since the beginning of the decade, the prices for groceries, gas, health care, and other necessities have skyrocketed at the fastest pace in almost 20 years. At the same time, a wave of foreclosures in the mortgage market led to the largest one-year decline in American home prices since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The falling value of the dollar and increasing personal debt have only added to the financial insecurity felt by Hoosier families. To add to this situation, the largest bankruptcy and the largest bank failure in American history have occurred just within the past month.

With company after company going into bankruptcy and bank after bank closing their doors, Wall Street has put the already struggling American economy on the brink of another depression. This crisis threatens to cut of credit to the worthiest of households and businesses, making it harder and harder for small businesses to make payroll, for middle class kids to get student loans to pay their college tuition, for families to buy or sell a house. Meanwhile, it puts the retirement savings of millions of workers in peril. Multiplied millions of times over, this could lead to a depression that would hit every American family.

Frankly, no one wants taxpayers to be in this position, but I believe this program is the best way to prevent this financial crisis from further spreading throughout the economy. That's why I supported this plan when it came to the floor of the House. As you may know, this package did not pass the House, by a vote of 205 to 228. Now that this version of the package has failed on the floor of the House, I expect leaders from both parties will return to the negotiating table and make the changes necessary to ensure this comprehensive approach to the dangerous situation is successful. Of course, the next step will be to modernize the way the government regulates the intertwined pieces of the economy-from local mortgage lending to Wall Street money managing. Be assured I will be working with my colleagues to develop sensible, innovative, comprehensive rules that will make sure the taxpayer is never put in this position again.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your views with me. If you would like to learn more about my positions on issues important to you or receive regular updates on developments in Congress, please visit my Online Office at www.ellsworth.house.gov and sign up for my e-Newsletter.

Sincerely,

Brad Ellsworth