I recently sent another letter to Senators Specter, Collins, Snowe, and in my own state Cantwell and Murry.  I received a response from Cantwell this time.  Again I highly doubt this was written by the esteemed senator herself, I thought I would share.  Sorry for such a long post, but I think that some of you might find this interesting.

My second letter:

Dear Senator

I must say that I am EXTREMELY disappointed with how you voted for the “stimulus” bill. I am disappointed that you thought it okay to condemn our country to decades more of debt to other countries that clearly do not have our best interests in mind, countries that would like nothing more than to profit from our demise. We are slowing losing out liberty because of people like you; people who swore to uphold and protect the constitution, yet treat it as if it were a cleaning rag behind closed doors to push your secret agendas. 

It is sickening how President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Senator Reid try to shove this bill down Americas collective throat as quickly as possible to keep us from see the truth behind it, and you went right along with their plans. You aided them by passing it, and not allowing true DEMOCRATIC debate on the subject. We had a chance to halt this race to spending ourselves into socialism, a chance to actually look at what they were trying do to our country. I simply won’t believe that you had no idea about what their agenda was. You HAD to see that they didn’t want the American people to see how they are ruining our country. Why else would they have trumpeted the idea that if we didn’t act now all would be lost? ONLY 3% OF THIS BILL IS GOING BE SPENT THIS YEAR! If time was of the essence then why is it going take at least 2 years to spend just 25% of the stimulus? You have to see the real reason for the haste of passing this bill! They were afraid of the people finding out what was in it before it was passed. Yesterday the President tried to tell us that there was not pork barrel spending in this bill. I guess in a twisted sort of way that is true. There really aren’t individual pork programs in it, THE WHOLE THING IS ONE BIG PORK PROGRAM! THIS BILL HAS MORE PORK IN IT THEN A CAN OF SPAM! And you went along of the ride, aiding the President in the desecration of the foundations this great country was founded on.

If you TRULY wanted to fix this economic problem, all you had to do was look to history. First I point you to President Ronald Reagan, and what he did in the 1980’s. By halting excess spending, pulling money out of the market, and cutting taxes he averted a crisis; a crisis that was cause by President Carter! He knew that the only way to stop an economic slide was to put money back into the coffers of the companies that employ us, the American people, and that leads to companies having more money to hire the unemployed (people that you become a burden to society because of this bill). He was able to turn a crisis around that was arguably worse then what we are experiencing today! The other crisis I point you to is the Depression of 1920… I don’t know if you knew about the Depression of 1920, but by all standards of measuring an economic rescission it was much worse than the Great Depression (in fact more production and jobs were lost in its first year than any other crisis we have faced). But there is a very good reason many have not heard of it; it only lasted one year! The reason it last but one year is that President Warren G Harding did nothing to interfere with the markets. He cut taxes, but didn’t attempt to buy up bad loans, spend billions on wasteful government programs, or print trillions in new dollars. He allowed the markets to purge bad credit and bad businesses, and they eventually corrected themselves. The history taught in school is a lie that FDR brought us out of the Great Depression. AND WE ARE DOING THE EXACT SAME THING TODAY! 

I hope the truth about why you voted yes on this bill comes out, so that WE, the voters in your district, will truly see what kind of representative you are. I have a feeling the rest of the voters would be just as outraged as I am if they knew. 

Thank you for your time,

Cabe Lovlie

Natural born citizen of the United States, and defender of her Constitution.

And here is the response I received:

Dear Mr. Lovlie,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1).  I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

I understand that American families are struggling as the economic situation continues to deteriorate.  These are extraordinarily challenging times.  Bold action is needed to restore confidence in our country's economy and financial markets, and to get people back to work.  The recovery bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate is designed to provide immediate help for those struggling to weather the crisis, and to begin the long-term process of rebuilding our economy and creating needed jobs.  It's a plan to provide hope and opportunity for all hardworking Americans. 

As a member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, I continue to pursue policies that promote growth in the economy and increase standards of living for Washingtonians. We do that though turning our economy in a new direction.  And we transform our economy by investing in clean energy and creating high-paying jobs in the United States to support those new industries.  Our country can reduce its dependence on foreign oil, and protect American consumers from a repeat of the dramatic spike in oil prices that devastated your budgets in 2007 and 2008, if we make these investments now.  

I supported the bill that passed the U.S. Congress on February 13, 2009, in part because it put a down payment on our economic transition to a clean energy future and will create tens of thousands of green jobs.  The bill provides $11 billion investment in smart grid technology and infrastructurebased on language I authored in the 2007 Energy bill.  This money will create 73,500 jobs nationwide to make the use of our energy more efficient.  This bill also extends tax credits for investments in wind and solar energy by 3 years, doubles Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) to finance facilities that generate electricity from wind, geothermal, hydropower and other renewable energy sources, and provides a $2,500 tax credit for consumers who purchase plug-in electric vehicles. 

In addition to creating a new green economy, this bill also strengthens our focus on education, health care, and infrastructure, and provides the necessary resources in these areas to ensure a strong future for our children.  In Washington state alone, this bill will create or save an estimated 75,000 jobs over the next two years.  In addition, more than 2.45 million workers and their families will benefit from the "Making Work Pay" tax cut of up to $1,000 per couple, and for many workers who have lost their jobs, the plan allows an additional $100 per month and an additional 33 weeks of unemployment benefits.  For small businesses, the bill provides increased access to credit.  The bill also will increase private capital in order to continue plans for affordable housing developments across our state.

Other important elements in the Senate-passed legislation include: an extension of existing Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) programs, giving extended income support and training benefits for workers who lose their jobs because of increased imports or factory shifts to certain countries; an additional $2.06  billion in Medicaid relief for Washington families; a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that will make college more affordable for 67,000 families; and an expansion of the Earned Income Tax and Child Tax Credits for low-income working families.

Rebuilding our economy is an ongoing process, and is not something that can be fixed overnight.  It is important that as we work to craft effective economic recovery legislation we strike an appropriate balance among our nation's priorities. Please be assured that I will keep your ideas in mind as the Senate moves forward in addressing these critical issues.

Thank you so much for contacting me to share your thoughts on this matter.  Finally, I would like to keep you informed of what is happening in D.C. Every Monday, I provide a brief outline about my work in the Senate and issues of importance to Washington state. If you are interested in getting this update, please visit my website at http://cantwell.senate.gov.  Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,
Maria Cantwell
United States Senator

Again, I highly doubt she actually wrote this. 


Here is the response I wrote to the above letter:

Dear Senator,

                First, I would like to say thank you for the response, but it looks as though you still do not listen to what me, and the majority of Americans are saying. Two thirds of the country believes that this atrocious spending bill will do nothing to help our economy, and as much as 54% of the country think this package will only hurt us. I only wished you would have listened to the millions crying out for caution. It is just simply unconscionable that you would vote for this package without even reading 50% of it. To have been able to read this bill from the time it was released for review to the time the vote was held a person would have to read over 650 words a minute. That rate is simply impossible for any human, never mind any comprehension of what is read. 

I am also ashamed of the President for breaking so many campaign promises during the deliberation for this bill. He promised that new spending bills would be posted online for everyone to read for at LEAST 5 day. Yet this bill was post for barley 48 hours. We still don’t truly know what is hidden in this bill. He promised that republicans would always be invited to help author new spending bills, but republicans were shut out of all the comities that put the bill together. He promised to go through the national budget with a “scalpel” and cut all the programs that have been proven not to work. Instead now he increases the spending on those programs he promised to cut! But what I am more ashamed at is that you voted for it. How can you say that you represent those who elected you when you disrespect them by voting for a bill that you knew nothing about? It is simply despicable and pathetic. 

                You could have taken a stand to halt this bill until everyone had ample time to read it, but instead you went along with the herd and rushed it though. If this was such an emergency then why did the President wait till today to actually sign it in? Why wasn’t he ready with his pen in hand to sign it the moment it was finished printing? We already know the reason the House rushed the bill through. Speaker Pelosi just couldn’t miss her flight to Italy to receive an award (for something I doubt anyone knows or cares about). So it wasn’t because of our economic emergency. She wanted it passed as soon as possible so she could run off to Italy to stroke he ego. The antics of the congress just sicken me. I thought being a woman of the people, elected by the people you would have been different, and actually represented the feelings of your constituents. But I see now that I was wrong. 

                The bill will do nothing but harm our country. This exact same plan was tried in the mid 90’s in Japan with disastrous effects. They still have yet to recover, and is the reason they were hit so hard recently by the current economic climate. You and the rest of congress have sealed the same fate for America, and have begun our downward spiral toward a true depression. 

There have been many recessions in American history, much worse than this one. The times when America recovered quickest were when nothing was done by the government to correct it. Yet history also shows that times of economic downturn are only prolonged by government intervention. Why do you think that the country’s leading economic university professors signed a petition saying this simply won’t work? But you didn’t listen to them either. You truly have doomed us all. 

Thank you,

Cabe Lovlie

Natural born citizen of the United States, and defender of Her constitution