Politics

Pelosi and Reid Urge Bush to Call Emergency Meeting of G-8

By Karina

Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent the following letter to President George W. Bush urging him to call an emergency meeting of the G-8 heads of state to address the continued instability in world financial markets and the freeze in global credit.

The letter:

October 9, 2008

The Honorable George W. Bush
The President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania, Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

In the days since enactment of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA), we have continued to witness the devastating effects that the global economic crisis is having on the American people. The passage of this legislation by Congress represented a major contribution by the American people to solving this crisis. Now, the American people are awaiting additional action at the international level.

The American people and the world are looking to the United States for leadership. We are writing to support the call for an emergency meeting of the G-8 heads of state to address the continued instability in world financial markets and the freeze in global credit. Although your planned meeting this weekend with G-7 finance ministers is a positive step, there is a sense of urgency that the United States take a leadership role in bringing together leaders of the largest economies to help avoid even more serious economic consequences.

While we welcome yesterday’s announcement by the Federal Reserve and several other foreign central banks of a coordinated reduction in interest rates, more must be done to demonstrate a concerted international effort to address the global economic crisis. Doing so will send a strong signal that world leaders recognize the severity of the crisis and that they are committed to taking strong, concerted action to resolve it.

Working together, we produced legislation to insulate Main Street from Wall Street and help to bring economic security to our homes and communities. We acted nationally, and now, in order to promote economic security more broadly, we must also act globally.

Thank you for your consideration of our request for a meeting of the G-8 at the earliest opportunity.

Best Regards,

NANCY PELOSI
Speaker of the House

HARRY REID
Majority Leader of the Senate

Full post as published by The Gavel on October 09, 2008 (boomark / email).