Monday was a remarkable day in the House of Representatives. We saw Republicans seconding Chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts liberal. We saw Democrats rise to applaud John Boehner, the Republican leader.

We are facing an extraordinary economic crisis—one that will take extraordinary steps to solve. If the worst comes, none of us, and none of the people we represent, will be unaffected.

That is why all of us, Democrats and Republicans alike, have to come together to prevent the worst from happening. On Monday, we brought a modified version of the President’s financial recovery plan to the floor. It was backed by Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and the Senate, and President Bush, and Secretary Paulson, and Chairman Bernanke, and Senator McCain, and Senator Obama.

The resulting bill was far from perfect. But we made real improvements to the President’s plan, ensuring that Congress will not write a blank check to bail out Wall Street’s bad decisions. We made sure that, when the economy regains its health, taxpayers would be the first to profit.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act was designed to restore the flow of credit, the lifeblood of our economy, which is in danger of drying up. The aim was to help homeowners keep their homes, to protect retirement accounts, to help families take out the loans they need, and to keep small businesses alive and hiring.

Senator Obama made a good analogy yesterday afternoon: If your neighbor leaves the stove on and sets his house on fire, you don’t refuse to help because it was his fault. If you do that, the fire could spread, and your house could burn down, too. Instead, you put the fire out first, and then you deal with the guy who left his stove on.

It’s the same with our financial emergency: No matter who started it, it is in everyone’s interest to stop it.

We understood all along that passing a plan to stop it would take votes from both parties. Democrats lived up to our end of the bargain—60% of our caucus voted for the economic rescue. Many of us had significant reservations; but we were convinced by economists, on the left and right, who told us the dangers of doing nothing.

In the end, an essential bill was defeated. But the crisis we face isn’t going away. We are working overtime to find a bipartisan way forward, a plan that can pass the House and the Senate with support from both parties. Speaker Pelosi and I are in constant touch with the Administration and with Republican leaders.

Together, we are going to find a way out of this crisis—because inaction will be far too costly.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 9:48 am and is filed under Uncategorized .