CA-27: Brad Sherman (!) Leads House Revolt Against President Paulson Bailout

This is unexpected but welcome:

Democratic MEMBERS Meeting on Bailout Plan, TODAY, Room 2220, 2:30-3:30pm
From: The Honorable Brad Sherman
Date: 9/22/2008
Skeptical About the
Administration's $700 Billion Bailout Plan?
Democratic Members Meeting
Room 2220
2:30-3:30 P.M.

Dear Democratic Colleague:

Are you skeptical about the $700 billion bailout bill? Let's meet in Room 2220 on Monday, September 22, 2008 at 2:30 PM. Come to the first and perhaps only meeting of the Skeptics Caucus to discuss President Bush's $700 billion bailout bill. Democratic Members and Senior Staff only.

Bring specific legislative proposals. I will be bringing legislative proposals to carry out the principles set forth in the letter below. If you have questions about this meeting, please contact me or my Legislative Director and Counsel, Gary Goldberg, at xyz.

Sincerely,

Brad Sherman
Member of Congress

I would expect this out of a Barbara Lee or Maxine Waters, but coming from Sherman, this means that rank and file Democrats are very wary of getting steamrolled by the Bush Administration and let a major chunk of the Federal treasury flow out of their control. Sherman is pretty middle-of-the-road as Democrats go, squarely in the mainstream of the party if not to the right of the mainstream, not a guy who's out in front a lot and not (to my knowledge) a member of the Progressive Caucus. I've met him a couple times out here in California and he seemed OK, but not exactly the guy I'd expect to go to war with. If Sherman is marching (pardon the pun), there's a very large skeptic's caucus, I'd gather. And Sherman's prescriptions for a better bill (available at the link) are really good.

Plus, there's CA-46 candidate Debbie Cook's statement from earlier:

"We must take action to keep our whole economy from collapsing. But if the plan by the Treasury which has leaked out today is genuine, then it's unclear if the plan will work at all.

"Add in a massive transfer of authority to the executive branch, with no congressional oversight or judicial review, and this plan should be dead on arrival.

"Handing over taxpayer money to the government with no oversight is always a bad idea and it's especially rotten given the current administration's track record."

And Rep. Hilda Solis, traveling with netroots favorite Annette Taddeo in South Florida, released a great statement as well, connecting this fiscal crisis to the effort to privatize Social Security:

"Three years ago, President Bush and rubberstamps in Congress like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen fought hard to privatize Social Security. From the floor of Congress, Ros-Lehtinen said that she “applauded the President for his strong leadership and vision” and that she wanted to “reform Social Security to include private accounts. Had George W. Bush and rubberstamps in Congress had their way, today’s financial crisis would be a full-blown emergency. Tens of millions of seniors around the country, including hundreds of thousands here in South Florida, would have lost their pensions overnight.”

It's time for an "all-hands-on-deck" approach. Call your Representatives and tell them you don't want to give a blank check for $700 billion dollars to the guys who messed up Iraq and the response to Hurricane Katrina.