“The Bush administration has asked for this unprecedented economic relief because their mistakes are of unprecedented proportions.  It’s been clear for some time that portions of our financial markets lacked proper regulation.  Time and again this administration withheld resources from oversight agencies and left Wall Street’s greed unchecked.

“Just because President Bush left the fox guarding the henhouse doesn’t mean families don’t still need the eggs.  The fallout of the Administration’s mistakes will be felt in households across the country if Congress does not act quickly. 

“Average Americans and small businesses -- even those with good credit -- are already finding it difficult to fulfill the American dream. Millions of Americans can’t get a loan to buy a car, pay for college, start a small business, buy a home, or make a payroll.

“If the markets continue to deteriorate at the current rate, people retiring in the next few years will feel the affect in their pension funds, 401K plans, and stock portfolios.  Take AIG.  They hold the insurance and retirement accounts of millions of Americans.  If they go under, what happens to America’s families in the long term? 

“This is a pickle of a situation for taxpayers and Congress to be in – either forced to help bankrupt companies because the lack of oversight by the Bush Administration allowed things to get this bad, or forced to cut off a lifeline to millions of Americans if Washington doesn’t act.   

“There’s one thing I know for sure: We can’t continue to follow the Bush Administration’s prescription, which has been using taxpayer dollars to treat the effects without dealing with the underlying cause. Democrats have improved the package by adding protections and safeguards to address the current crisis, but in the long haul we must update the regulations we have and add new ones that make sense. Reports from the Treasury Department and others this year underscore the need to overhaul our regulatory environment and maintain the success of our capital markets.

 “The economic rescue package failed in the House this past Monday because we could not get enough Republicans to help undo the damage of the last 8 years, so leaders of both parties in Congress and the Administration are back at the drawing board.   

“We must modernize the regulatory framework to keep pace both with innovation and greed, and offer both short and long-term solutions to ensure this doesn’t happen again.  We must restore some common sense and fair oversight to our financial markets.  We must work together, and we must act swiftly.  The fate of our jobs, retirement, and our overall economy depend on it.”