Press Release - Bailed Out or Sold Out: Rep. Chaka Fattah bails out reckless government

Philadelphia, October 6, 2008 - With the help of Rep. Chaka Fattah, Congress passed a bill on October 3rd to not only bail out numerous Wall Street investors and executives, but also to bail out Congress itself, which nurtured (and even demanded) many of the policies that led to the present financial crisis. Unfortunately, the bill (which Rep. Fattah supported not once, but twice) is a sad testament to the hypocrisy our politicians practice by supporting certain principles on the campaign trail, while practicing the opposite behind closed doors.

The financial mess in which we find ourselves has an incomparable bipartisan pedigree, with Democrats and Republicans alike having supported policies that led us into this mess. Now, both parties have failed us once again by passing pork-filled legislation that lets off the hook not only the financial executives who made poor decisions with their investors' money, but the legislators who promoted those poor decisions for decades. And while politicians of all stripes proclaim that accountability and responsibility are the principles by which we live, their own actions suggest otherwise.

There can be little question that successive political administrations bear much of the blame for the current mess. For years, economists have warned of the dangers inherent in our current home loan system. Blind to these dangers, Congress not only continued to support this environment, they encouraged the expansion of the activities, pushing them to guarantee riskier loans for which taxpayers are now on the hook. Yet, the response from our elected officials is not an acknowledgement of serious errors in judgment. Instead, we the taxpayers have received only a cruel and all-but-unbelievable slap in the face - that we must now pay for Congress's mistakes.
The hypocrisy of this legislation during the campaign season is staggering. In debates and campaign material, we constantly hear talk about “fair taxation”, “paying one’s fair share” and even the “redistribution of wealth”. With the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, Congress has accomplished one of the largest redistributions of wealth in the history of the United States. Rep. Fattah and the other supporters of this bill have taken money from hard-working Americans and have handed it over to Wall Street executives. Apparently the rule that individuals should be accountable for the consequences of their decisions doesn't apply when that rule would require Congress to fess up to its mistakes.

How does Rep. Fattah think that taking money from hard-working families across Philadelphia and handing it over to reckless bankers means "paying one's fair share"? Apparently, Rep. Fattah thinks that "fair share" means that it's "fair" for the citizens to "share" in his mistakes.
On top of all this, at a time when candidates are campaigning about the evils of corporate welfare, how can Congress turn around and pass a bill that is nothing but a sacrifice on the altar of corporate welfare? While small businesses in Philadelphia and elsewhere struggle to survive and provide jobs for families, Congress has larded up this legislation with pet projects for Hollywood, NASCAR and corporations working in Samoa.

Sadly, the additional issue is the bailout bill was not needed or wanted by many constituents. Representatives from coast to coast have reported an inundation of mass emails and phone calls requesting to not vote for the bill. Many sound economists voiced their disapproval and how it can further harm the economy. Apparently, these representatives, like Rep. Fattah, ignored these concerns because someone offered them a better deal than listening to their voters.

Finally, we are facing a financial crisis, precipitated by reckless politicians in Washington and reckless executives on Wall Street. Yet, American workers continue to be among the hardest working and most productive in the world; and the poor judgment of Rep. Fattah and his cohorts can't change this. This financial mess is a duet orchestrated by Congress and Wall Street. I believe that the strength of hard-working families - who manufacture quality goods for, and provide valuable services to, the world - will lead our country to an ever-brighter economic future. Rep. Fattah, on the other hand, does not seem to share this faith in the American worker, believing that a multi-hundred-billion-dollar bail out for Congress and Wall Street is more important than smart economic policies which will increase opportunities for hard-working Philadelphians.

Rep. Fattah has voted to bail out himself and Congress from their own mistakes. We should not bail him out on Nov. 4th.