Grassroots

From my brother-in-law:

Beth:

I'm forwarding this email from one of E----'s sisters to you for two reasons. First, it reveals the nuts and bolts of the stimulus package and provides details on what they want to do with our money. Second, I thought it might offer some encouragement that there are others who think this is the wrong solution to the problem. (I know I could use some encouragement about now.)

S

Hi B.,

I am a friend of E----,(and S is my brother-in-law.) He forwarded your email to me.
May I post your letter on my blog? You can check it out at the link below.
Thanks for putting together the information.

Beth

Beth,

By all means you may put my letter on your blog. I think this may be up for a vote tomorrow. Not sure.

I don't usually send around emails like this, but ever since the first $700 billion bailout last fall, I have been trying to pay closer attention not to just what is in the news, but what is actually in the details. My brother Kevin asked me to send the links to him, and I thought why not send it to a few more people.

Democrat or Republican, we are all taxpayers.

Thanks for your interest, and I will be sure to visit your blog.

B.

The email:

Dear family and friends,

This $825,000,000,000 (billion) bill was introduced in the House of Representatives yesterday (Jan 26) and may be up for a vote in the House this week. That is a boat load of money.

I am not asking you to feel one way or the other about this, but I am asking you as a fellow taxpayer to please be aware of all that is in this bill before it is voted upon. Then, if you are so inclined, please contact your congressman or congresswoman to express your support of or opposition to this bill.

This is the link to the House Appropriations Committee website, (the bill came out of this committee): http://appropriations.house.gov/

This is a link to the most recent summary of the bill. It is just 14 pages long, and was written by the appropriations committee. It is not a summary from an extreme left or right group:

http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-21-09.pdf

This is the link to the entire bill as it was introduced in the House yesterday (good reading if you are prone to insomnia): http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1

To find out who your representative is, you can go to http://www.house.gov/ and just plug in your zip code. You can contact most representatives by phone or email.

I know you are all very busy but, if you can, please take some time to read up on this bill before it is passed. Decide for yourself if it is the "stimulus" and "job creating" bill that it is being portrayed as. I don't think it is.

Thanks for your time,

B.