Democrats in the U.S. Congress are finally starting to catch on that Americans are angry that the massive bailout payments to Wall Street financial firms have failed to translate into an economic recovery that benefits people outside of the small circles of corporate executives. And what are these congressional Democrats doing about it? Well, some of them are giving nice speeches.

Representative Mary Kaptur, for example, said on Wednesday,

“The conventional wisdom flowing through the media to our Nation is that without the Wall Street bailout, America would have gone into economic depression and many banks would have failed. Well, the bailout passed. But think about it, then America fell into depression. Unemployment skyrocketed, and since January of last year, 141 banks have failed and been resolved through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation with more to come. Yet the biggest banks that did the damage were rescued rather than broken up and held accountable. These big banks gambled wildly, taking huge risks with our money and our mortgages, and now they are transferring their trillions of dollars of mistakes to our taxpayers for generations to come. What’s wrong with this picture?

The public’s anger is rising, rightly. That can make a difference because that will affect elections. Yet the powerhouses of Wall Street who took TARP money within a year are earning the strongest profits in America compared to every other business, and they are handing themselves exorbitant bonuses, over $150 billion and counting. Clearly what Congress did was incorrect.

America has fallen into a deepening depression, more unemployment, with projections for a jobless recovery, with rising trade deficits, which weren’t supposed to happen because of the value of the dollar. Why? Because the financial crisis was resolved in the wrong way. The financiers who created this house of cards are still rewarding themselves and doing a reverse Robin Hood – taking from others to reward the privileged few. That doesn’t sound like the America I know.”

Those are nice words, but what has Representative Kaptur actually done to back them up? Well, it turns out that she has done her part. A month ago, Kaptur introducted H.R. 4377, the Return to Prudent Banking Act. The bill would help to prevent further financial problems like the crash of 2008 by restoring aspects of the Glass-Steagall Act, a law passed during the Great Depression, and then dismantled in our generation. The Glass-Steagall Act once kept commercial banks out of the business of risky financial speculation.

Introducing that legislation was a good idea, but the problem is that nobody in Congress has Marcy Kaptur’s back on this issue. H.R. 4377 has gained precisely zero cosponsors. Not even strong progressives like Dennis Kucinich have signed their names to the bill.

On the other hand, Dennis Kucinich has introduced another strong piece of legislation, the Responsible Bankers Act, H.R. 4414. That bill would, if passed, place a 75 percent tax on excessive bonuses received by Wall Street executives.

Kucinich’s bill has 8 co-sponsors so far:

William Lacy Clay
Elijah Cummings
Keith Ellison
Phil Hare
Hank Johnson
Steve Kagen
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C., non-voting member)
Diane Watson

Notice who’s not in this list? Well, a great number of members of the House of Representatives aren’t, but Marcy Kaptur’s absence is plain to me. Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur ought to be cross-endorsing each other’s bills. Their failure to do so calls to attention a general lack of systematic legislation from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party in Congress.

Speaking out in anger at the economic injustices of the last few years isn’t enough. Working Americans need to be represented by members of Congress who are willing to get organized.

In the 111th Congress, two caucuses exist to promote left-oriented economic legislation. The 27 members of the Congressional Populist Caucus in the House of Representatives lay out this economic agenda:

Populist Caucus Platform:
1. Fighting for working families and the middle class by creating and retaining good-paying jobs in America, providing fair wages, proper benefits, a level playing field at the negotiating table, and ensuring American workers have secure, solvent retirement plans.

2. Cutting taxes for the middle class and establishing an equitable tax structure.

3. Providing affordable, accessible, quality health care for all Americans.

4. Ensuring quality primary education for all American children, and affordable college education for all who want it.

5. Defending American competiveness by fighting for fair trade principles.

6. Protecting consumers, so that Americans can have faith in the safety and effectiveness of the products they purchase.

The 79 full House members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus have adopted a broader agenda that includes these economic elements:

Fighting for Economic Justice and Security in the U.S. and Global Economies

» To uphold the right to universal access to affordable, high quality healthcare for all.

» To preserve guaranteed Social Security benefits for all Americans, protect private pensions, and require corporate accountability.

» To invest in America and create new jobs in the U.S. by building more affordable housing, re-building America’s schools and physical infrastructure, cleaning up our environment, and improving homeland security.

» To export more American products and not more American jobs and demand fair trade.

» To reaffirm freedom of association and enforce the right to organize.

» To ensure working families can live above the poverty line and with dignity by raising and indexing the minimum wage.

This week, Rep. John Tierney has introduced a new bill, H.R. 4300, that shares ground with the spirit of these caucuses’ economic justice and consumer protection platforms even if it does not match them to the letter. Tierney’s bill responds to this year’s huge hikes in interest rates imposed by credit card corporations by imposing a 16% annual interest rate cap on consumer credit cards, along with a maximum $15 charge for late fees and similar penalties.

How thoroughly are the Populist and Progressive caucuses supporting credit card reform legislation? Not very thoroughly at all: only 37% of Populist Caucus members and only 46% of Progressive Caucus members have cosponsored H.R. 4300. Not even the Chair of the Populist Caucus, Rep. Bruce Braley, has declared his support for the bill.

Support for credit card policy reform may grow over time, but it is unlikely to do so wholly on its own merit. Indeed, the prospect of lowered profit for the credit card operators who fund campaigns lends momentum against the bill. Americans will have to counter that by calling in with their support for the effort if H.R. 4300 is going to get anywhere. Members of the Progressive and Populist Caucuses should be especially receptive to your calls, and that makes them good first targets for our efforts.

The following are members of both the Populist Caucus and the Progressive Caucus who have nevertheless NOT yet cosponsored H.R. 4300:

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA, District 4). In-district phone: 770-939-2016
Rep. David Loebsack (D-IA, District 2). In-district phone: 319-351-0789
Rep. Ben Lujan (D-NM, District 3). In-district phone: 505-984-8950
Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA, District 39). In-district phone: 562-860-5050

The following members of Congress are members of the Populist Caucus who have NOT yet cosponsored H.R. 4300:

Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA, District 3). In-district phone: 888-432-1984
Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA, District 1). In-district phone: 563-323-5988
Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI, District 8). In-district phone: 920-437-1954
Rep. Michael Michaud (D-ME, District 2). In-district phone: 207-942-6935
Rep. Thomas Perriello (D-VA, District 5). In-district phone: 434-293-9631
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA, District 27). In-district phone: 818-501-9200
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA, District 12). In-district phone: 650-342-0300
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY, District 3). In-district phone: 502-582-5129

The following members of Congress are members of the Progressive Caucus who have NOT yet cosponsored H.R. 4300:

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI, District 1). In-district phone: 808-541-2570
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI, District 2). In-district phone: 608-258-9800
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA, District 31). In-district phone: 213-483-1425
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR, District 3). In-district phone: 503-231-2300
Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA, District 1). In-district phone: 610-874-7094
Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL, District 3). In-district phone: 407-872-0656
Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN, District 7). In-district phone: 317-283-6516
Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA, District 32). In-district phone: 626-448-1271
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY, District 11). In-district phone: 718-287-1142
Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO, District 1). In-district phone: 314-367-1970
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO, District 5). In-district phone: 816-842-4545
Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL, District 7). In-district phone: 773-533-7520
Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA, District 2). In-district phone: 215-848-9386
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA, District 4). In-district phone: 508-999-6462
Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH, District 11). In-district phone: 216-522-4900
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL, District 8). In-district phone: 407-841-1757
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL, District 4). In-district phone: 773-342-0774
Rep. John Hall (D-NY, District 19). In-district phone: 845-225-3641
Rep. Michael Honda (D-CA, District 15). In-district phone: 408-558-8085
Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI, District 13). In-district phone: 734-246-0780
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA, District 9). In-district phone: 510-763-0370
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA, District 5). In-district phone: 404-659-0116
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY, District 14). In-district phone: 718-932-1804
Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA, District 7). In-district phone: 508-875-2900
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI, District 4). In-district phone: 414-297-1140
Rep. James Moran (D-VA, District 8). In-district phone: 703-971-4700
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ, District 6). In-district phone: 732-249-8892
Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ, District 4). In-district phone: 602-256-0551
Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ, District 10). In-district phone: 973-645-3213
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME, District 1). In-district phone: 207-774-5019
Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO, District 2). In-district phone: 303-484-9596
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY, District 15). In-district phone: 212-663-3900
Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA, District 37). In-district phone: 562-436-3828
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA, District 34). In-district phone: 213-628-9230
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL, District 1). In-district phone: 773-224-6500
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY, District 12). In-district phone: 212-673-3997
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA, District 35). In-district phone: 323-757-8900
Rep. Melvin Watt (D-NC, District 12). In-district phone: 336-275-9950
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL, District 19). In-district phone: 561-988-6302

If you find the name of your representative in one of these lists, please consider taking the five minutes necessary to pick up the phone, dial that local number, and let it be known that you support the consideration of this bill. If you and other Americans don’t engage in that basic level of advocacy, H.R. 4300 is certain to wither on the vine.

Three of we who write for Irregular Times met last week near Trumansburg, New York and recorded this podcast under the stars. I feel confident in stating that this is the first podcast in the history of the Universe to incorporate discussion of Seneca Falls, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, South Carolina, populism, American aristocracy, the psychology of license plates and Roosevelt Franklin.