Democrats’ False Hope for Change

Democrats’ False Hope for Change

MARCH 19, 2009

As Republicans fought to protect taxpayers from $350 billion in additional Wall Street bailouts, Democrats assured the American people President Obama would control how taxpayers' dollars would be spent.


  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): "The American people deserve a government that is a fierce watchdog of their hard-earned tax dollars.  Congress and the new Administration will ensure that TARP funds are used for lending to American workers and small businesses - so we can lift our economy out of recession - and not for the enrichment of a privileged few." (Press Release, 1/21/2009)
  • Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV):  "If the actions of the President-elect on TARP are any indication, a new day is dawning in Washington, DC, and a good day, a bright day...Barack Obama has also said there will be transparency, there will be oversight, and Barack Obama has said the disbursal of TARP funds will require his signoff; not a Secretary, not somebody in some clerk's office, not a group of people, but every penny will require Barack Obama's personal signoff." (Congressional Record, 1/15/2009)
  • House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD):  "It should strengthen our confidence to know that President Obama has learned from the mistakes that were made during the Bush administration in administering this sum of money. That is not a criticism. Mistakes are made. But we can learn from those mistakes, and we will learn from those mistakes." (Congressional Record, 1/22/2009)
  • Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL):  "I am going to be voting with the faith that this new administration, with new leadership and new eyes and new vision and new values, will invest this money properly so that we can turn this economy around and build a strong American future." (Congressional Record, 1/15/2009)
  • Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA):  "We saw bankers saying, ‘I got the money. It's none of your business what we do with it.' We saw bonuses given that shouldn't be given. I am confident that the Obama administration has learned from that." (Congressional Record, 1/22/2009)
  • Senator Jim Webb (D-VA): "The situation now, in my view, is different. I spoke with the President-elect. He indicated he was totally comfortable with my coming to the Senate floor and saying that he personally guarantees closure on all of those issues...that there will be limits on executive compensation; and that there clearly are going to be strong proposals, to re-regulate the financial markets." (Congressional Record, 1/15/2009)
  • Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) (Again):  "We believe the Obama administration will abide by its commitment to follow this bill if it's passed. I understand the skepticism on the Republican side because we're telling them that we have a commitment which we accept as valid from a new administration that they will abide by the bill as it passes the House." (Congressional Record, 1/14/2009)
  • Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT):  "That is what this President has asked for--both the outgoing and incoming one--to give this incoming President the tools necessary to move forward.  Now, I know, as well, there is going to be far better accountability, far more transparency." (Congressional Record, 1/15/2009)
  • Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX):  "And by the way, my friends, in this language it says so more of these big bonuses and compensation and grandstanding resort packages, no more of that." (Congressional Record, 1/22/2009)
  • Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA):  "So I say to my constituents I will vote for this, and I will do it because of the assurances I have gotten from the President-elect himself that it will be different, that he will use these funds judiciously, that he needs to make sure he has this tool in his pocket. I hope my constituents understand that after hearing that from this President... I feel he deserves my trust at this time." (1/15/2009)
  • Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA): "I felt a little bit, after the last one, like Charlie Brown and Lucy--she is always pulling the football out from under Charlie Brown. I said: That is not going to happen to me again. Well, Lucy is not holding the ball now. We have someone new holding that ball, someone by the name of Barack Obama and Joe Biden and their team." (Congressional Record, 1/15/2009)
  • Senator Patty Murray (D-WA): "Today, I met with Timothy Geithner, the President-elect's nominee to head the Treasury Department. He gave me his assurances that transparency and accountability will be improved...With those assurances, I believe the American people are finally going to get the investment and the honesty they deserve." (Congressional Record, 1/15/2009)
  • Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL):  "Today, the President will limit executive compensation for executives of companies that take advantage of taxpayer bailout funds. This is the right thing to do." (Congressional Record, 2/4/2009)
  • Congressman James McGovern (D-MA):  "The Congress will not be a rubber stamp of the executive branch, unlike the first 6 years of the Bush administration...And I should say that the statement by the Obama administration, the statement by Larry Summers, is all very encouraging. It demonstrates a real appreciation of what average people are going through." (Congressional Record, 1/14/2009)
  • Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR):  "...we have tried to redirect, to prod and push and probe to make sure that there is greater transparency and coax greater performance out of the Bush administration while dealing with the criteria by which we will be going forward.  This is the work that the Congress should be doing, and I think we are doing it in a reasonable fashion. It's coming in the context of other tools that the new administration has sought and desperately needs." (Congressional Record, 1/22/2009)
  • Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD): "We need to give President Obama the tools he needs to get our economy going again. We shouldn't hold the misdeeds of the Bush administration against him...This week, the President-elect huddled with us, to talk about how his plan is different than the previous administration. We need vigilance and responsibility that's what President Obama has pledged." (Congressional Record, 1/15/2009)