SAINT PAUL [10/01/08] - U.S. Senate Candidate Al Franken:

“I am very concerned by what I’m seeing from Washington. After eight years of dismantling the regulatory framework that should have prevented this crisis, it looks like Washington may yet stick taxpayers with the bill for a $700 billion handout to Wall Street.

“I know that negotiations are continuing, so I want to send a very clear message to Washington: If we’re going to pay a premium to clean up this mess, we had better fix the problem that caused it.

“That problem is the failure – the refusal – of this administration and those who support its economic agenda to hold Wall Street accountable for its reckless behavior and enforce real oversight over our financial system.

“So, I would urge that, in any bailout package that comes up for a vote, Congress not only establish strong oversight over how this $700 billion is used, but also fix the system that allowed this abusive and reckless behavior, by implementing concrete steps to guarantee transparency and oversight in the marketplace. I believe that if we don’t fix the system, this won’t be the last bailout.

“And let me be clear: this should not be a proud day in Washington. Arsonists don’t get credit for putting out their own fires, especially when it costs taxpayers $700 billion. But any bailout package must include strong oversight protections, and a regulatory framework to prevent this from ever happening again”

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By AL FRANKEN
September 28, 2008

There is no denying that the reconstruction of Iraq — an endeavor to which we have committed tens of billions of dollars and a significant amount of our prestige on the world stage — has been a disaster. Less well-known, but just as important for Minnesotans to consider, is Sen. Norm Coleman’s role in that disaster.

Because of waste, fraud, incompetence and abusive contracting practices by companies our government trusted to do this important job, billions were wasted, stolen or lost. Pallets of shrink-wrapped American currency simply disappeared from airport hangars. Greedy contractors got no-bid “cost-plus” contracts that guaranteed a set percentage over and above every dollar they managed to spend. Some, not content with this sweetheart arrangement, even made up fake invoices claiming they’d spent more than they did. And we paid Halliburton billions while it overcharged the military for oil it delivered from Kuwait and served our troops rotten food.

Let’s be very clear here: Ripping off the taxpayer in a time of war is a betrayal of the highest order. And the cost of this fraud cannot be measured in dollars alone.

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Read full op-ed after the break…
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By Al Franken
St. Cloud Times

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For everyone who loses a home, there are many more who lose their home equity. In the Twin Cities, for instance, home values have declined 14.8 percent in the past year. The Center for Responsible Lending estimates that the crisis could end up affecting more than a half-million Minnesota homeowners, costing us $2.3 billion in wealth.

Home equity is the foundation on which middle-class wealth is built – and the foundation is now cracking. With this crisis threatening our neighbors, our communities, and our middle-class economy, we need immediate action. That’s why I’ve called for three steps to fix our housing market.

First: a lifeline for struggling homeowners. I want an immediate and temporary moratorium on foreclosures of primary residences so that we can stop the bleeding in the housing market and allow our neighbors to get their heads above water.

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Read the full op-ed after the jump…
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Al Franken: Americans need to invest at home, not in Iraq

By Al Franken
Grand Forks Herald

ST. PAUL - In April, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., took a trip to Iraq and spoke to a senior U.S. military officer. The officer told Levin that he had asked an Iraqi official why American dollars, rather than Iraqi dollars, were being used to clean up Iraqi towns.

The Iraqi official replied, “As long as you are willing to pay for the clean-up, why should we do it?”

He had a good point. There is a fine line between trying to fix what we broke in Iraq and being taken for chumps. And a report released recently was just the latest piece of evidence that we crossed that line a long time ago.
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To the editor:

I wanted to write to congratulate Faribault on winning the new Moventas gearbox plant. In my campaign for U.S. Senate, I’ve been calling for an Apollo program for renewable energy – and saying it would create jobs for Minnesota. The great news about the new plant shows that Minnesota is ready to be the epicenter and the engine of a new energy economy. We are the Saudi Arabia of wind and the source of some of the world’s premier research institutions. Congratulations to Faribault on the new plant and the new jobs. With continued investment in renewable energy technologies, this can be the beginning of a terrific trend.

Al Franken
U.S. Senate candidate

The Faribault Daily News published this letter on September 18, 2008.

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