After the somewhat surprising defeat of the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in the House of Representatives on Monday and the reviving of that bill in the Senate on Wednesday, it looks like the House is ready for another vote on the measure, possibly as early as today. It really is amazing to see our legislators scrambling to gather enough votes to pass the bill and to see those who have decided to vote yes trying to explain why they have changed their vote.

Here are some of the explanations from The Associated Press.

Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota also switched to “yes,” partly because the Senate attached the bailout to legislation he spearheaded to give people with mental illnesses better health insurance coverage.

Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri was switching, too, said spokesman Danny Rotert, declaring, “America feels differently today than it did on Monday about this bill.”

GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, said she was switching her “no” vote to a “yes” after the Senate added some $110 million in tax breaks and other sweeteners before approving the measure Wednesday night. “Monday what we had was a bailout for Wall Street firms and not much relief for taxpayers and hard-hit families,” Ros-Lehtinen told The Associated Press. “Now we have an economic rescue package.”

And Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada said she would back the bill after business leaders in her Las Vegas-area district made it clear how much it was needed. She said, “There isn’t a segment of the population that hasn’t been slammed and is not asking for some relief.”

Just let me ask this one question. How has the bill changed since Monday that would allow a legisator or any ordinary American, for that matter, to change the way they feel about giving $700 billion to Wall Street to cover the losses they have from their own greed and bad decisions? Do you feel differently today than you did Monday about this bailout plan?

Apparently, Congressional leaders have decided the bill was advertised in the wrong manner to the American people. As I was listening to NPR Wednesday afternoon, I began to hear terms such as “helping main street” more, instead of “helping Wall Street”. The people who are pushing for the passage of this bailout are trying to make us believe the United States economy will implode upon itself, if this plan isn’t passed and put into effect.

So, I ask the question again. What has changed about this plan since Monday that would change the way you or I feel about giving $700 billion to Wall Street? I contend nothing has changed, except to attach pet legislation to the bill, in order to sweeten the pot and to give legislators political cover and help explain why they changed their vote. In my opinion, that’s just not enough reason.

That’s my take!

Larry

Tags: $700 Billion, Bailout, Congress, Emanuel Cleaver, House of Represenatives, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Jim Ramstad, Main Street, Senate, Shelley Berkley, Wall Street

This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 at 5:46 am and is filed under News/Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.