bailout

Independence Caucus endorses Steve Hudson for Congress in Maryland's 8th District.

Dr. Mike Hargadon, Republican challenger to Elijah Cummings in Maryland's Seventh District, sent the following letter to Congressman Cummings' office this weekend.

The economy is hurting thanks to a combination of our love of de-regulation from the 1990s and overly greedy CEOs, greedier than normal. So our elected leaders in Washington decided to reward these idiots by bailing them out.  Now I will be honest, I do not like the idea. I believe that the government should have stepped in,however this was the wrong step, especially when these CEOs are still going to get a lot of money for NOT doing a good job.

So the $700 billion bailout first went through the house.  Before hand, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) gave a completely partisan speech, causing the bailout to fail. This bailout, which garnered bi-partisan support, did not pass and both Pelosi and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) started the spin that has made us a little bit upset at Congress for a while. Now it was the Senate's turn to come up with something new. This new thing was a bailout plan with a whole bunch of pork. Folks, pork belongs on a grill or a plate, not in a rescue plan.

“Today, we turned our backs on free market capitalism, and embraced corporate welfare. We ignored the system that made us the wealthiest country in the world, and endorsed the same one that brought about the demise of the Soviet Union. To say that I'm disappointed with the outcome would be a very big understatement.”

In spite of overwhelming public opposition to the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout, Chris Van Hollen voted yesterday in favor of the bill that was ultimately rejected by the House of Representatives.

In 2006, Representative Van Hollen supported ACORN, and his recent legislative activity attempts to prevent state and local election authorities from identifying phantom and illegal voters.

Representative Chris Van Hollen and Congress must assume responsibility for their roles in the collapse of the housing and finance industries.  

“This is the method of our current Congress.  Throw scraps to the poor by raising the minimum wage, while giving out generous favors to their special interest friends.  Congressman Cummings has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from special interests, so his first priority is to satisfy the lobbyists on K Street, not the downtrodden working poor in Baltimore,” continued Dr. Hargadon, who has pledged to refuse donations from special interest groups.