Members of the House of Representatives are to vote today on the so-called "bailout bill." They should reject it. At a minimum, the bill ought to be sent back to the Senate to be cleaned up.
When members of the House first voted on the bailout bill, on Monday, it reportedly was a three-page document with an estimated cost of $700 billion. The version approved Wednesday night by the Senate had grown to 451 pages and $850 billion.
Not one penny of that additional $150 billion has anything to do with preventing damage to the nation's economy. All of it - hundreds of pages - involves "sweeteners" added by leaders in Congress, in an attempt to sway the votes of their fellow lawmakers.
Here is a sampling of items included in the new bill, with some sections described merely by their titles:
If you are becoming sick to your stomach, we have bad news for you: The bill contains hundreds of pages of additional spending mandates - using taxpayers' money.
The Senate never should have approved the bill. The House should correct that mistake and reject it.
On Monday, congressmen representing our area all voted in favor of the original three-page bill. We call upon them - U.S. Reps. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va.; Charles Wilson, D-Ohio; and Zack Space, D-Ohio - to change their stance and vote "nay" when the new, larded-up version comes to a vote today.
American families simply can't afford a "rescue" such as that contemplated in the new bill.