Roll Up Sleeves, Pick Up Phone

“The situation could not be more serious. It is inexcusable and irresponsible to get bogged down in distraction and delay while millions of Americans are being put out of work. It is time for Congress to act. . . . This is not some abstract debate. It is an urgent and growing crisis.”
President Obama, Feb. 6, 2009

LNW_USA.sleeveAll week we’ve been wondering Where are the f—ing Senate Democrats?! It’s as though the camera hogs have turned into groundhogs, frightened of their shadows, leaving Obama to do all the heavy lifting on the American Recovery and Investment Plan, better known as The Stimulus.

We’ve tried calling a half-dozen senators’ offices to find out why Reid, or Durbin, or Schumer—usually so eager for the spotlight—have been camera-shy, but for some reason the lines were busy. Why haven’t the Senate Democrats been pushing back against the GOP’s flood of distortions and exaggerations? They should be out there explaining—simply, directly, using the same honest and memorable phrases over and over—the need to invest in public transportation and other infrastructure, helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, extending unemployment benefits and food stamps, and helping states pay Medicaid and education expenses so they don’t have to cut vital programs. Many senators, we know, are busy hashing out the details of the stimulus package, but we want to see the Democrats compete for air time with the Republicans, who have at least been showing up for work on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, CNBC, and everyplace else with a camera. (See “GOP Outnumbers Dems 2 to 1 in Cable News Stimulus Coverage” and “Dems Acknowledge They’re Being Outworked on TV, Vow to Fix.” And Daily Kos points out that, “adding insult to injury, a number of the Democrats who appeared are opposed to the stimulus bill.”)

LNW_phoneactionAnd so, left to our own devices, all week we’ve been faxing letters to Democratic and Republican senators, urging them to support the (admittedly imperfect) Obama stimulus plan, and we’ve been urging the Democrats to “get out there on TV and radio and speak up for the stimulus bill. . . . Please don’t make President Obama have to do all the work.”

Below is a version of the letter we’ve been faxing to Republicans. Please see the Political Action page and phone or fax as many senators as you can stand, Democrats and Republicans. Please, today, roll up your sleeves and make that call, or fax your own message (feel free to borrow from the lines below).

February 6, 2009

Please vote YES on the Stimulus Bill.

“The situation could not be more serious. It is inexcusable and irresponsible to get bogged down in distraction and delay while millions of Americans are being put out of work. It is time for Congress to act. . . . This is not some abstract debate. It is an urgent and growing crisis.” —President Obama, Feb. 6, 2009

Dear Senator Vitter:

We are writing to urge you to support President Obama’s American Recovery and Investment Plan—just as the Republican governors and mayors are pleading with the Senate to do. President Obama’s team has gone out of their way to devise a plan that gives some pretty substantial tax cuts to appeal to Republican priorities and promises to keep a close watch on the spending so that money is not wasted. It’s not perfect, but there is no time to waste. The U.S. has lost 3.6 million jobs since this recession began—over 600,000 in January alone—and it’s getting worse.

The nation is in crisis, and Congress must come together to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, to invest in infrastructure (incl. Army Corps of Engineers) and public transportation, in unemployment benefits and food stamps, and in helping states pay Medicaid and education expenses so they don’t have to cut vital programs.

Of course no one likes deficit spending, but fiscal conservatives who deride the stimulus plan as unacceptably heavy on spending are often the same ones who voted for the huge Bush tax cuts that went mainly to the well-to-do, and for the ever-escalating defense budgets ($677 billion for 2008) and the Iraq War (about $12 billion a month) and the Medicare Part D that has never allowed for bulk price discounts, and so on. If deficit spending was palatable for these purposes, then at least until the economic crisis is stabilized, targeted, managed deficit spending should be permitted in order to relieve the suffering of the American people—to help us keep our homes and afford health care and education and sustainable modes of transportation.

Please—please—be a part of the solution. Work with the President, who is trying to work with Congress. (The House Republicans’ total non-cooperation made the GOP look very bad.) If not for Obama, if not for the nation as a whole, at least think of what would help your fellow GOP governors. Blocking needed investments is not putting “country first” and certainly won’t win votes in the next election.

Yours sincerely,

etc.

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Roll Up Sleeves, Pick Up Phone

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