Welch talks with worried residents

Monday, March 2

BRATTLEBORO -- Everywhere he went during a visit around town Saturday, Rep. Peter Welch was asked about the economy.

During a breakfast stop at the Chelsea Royal Diner in West Brattleboro, he talked to a dairy farmer about falling milk prices and to a local arts advocate about the disappearing availability of grants.

And at a special forum at the Latchis Theatre later that morning, selectboard and school board members from the area wanted to know how they could access some of the federal stimulus money that is expected to arrive in the state in the coming weeks.

"Everyone is concerned about where this economy is going to go," Welch said Saturday night in a telephone interview from his home in Hartland. "When you look around at what is happening in this country, and around the world, you understand that this is very real."

Welch regularly makes it back from Washington to meet with Vermonters, but he said during his trips these days, many of the people he talks with want to speak about the economy.

Welch originally opposed the bank bailout and then ended up voting in favor of it.

He admits that even though about $350 billion of that money has already been pumped into the nation's banking system, it has done little to improve the credit crunch that has frozen lending in the business community.

It is easy now to look back and wonder if voting for the bailout was the best thing, but Welch stands by his vote and said Congress did not want to wait as the nation's banking system worsened.

"If we did nothing, the argument can be made that the damage would have been greater," Welch said. "The crisis ripples down to people's pensions and college funds and we have to deal with it aggressively."

During his visit Saturday, Welch heard again and again from local residents who were angry that they were being asked to pay for the mistakes made by bankers in other parts of the country.

"The banks in Vermont were doing their jobs, and the hard-working people in Vermont were playing by the rules and there is a lot of outrage that now their money is being used to bail out the banks that failed," Welch said. "I understand that, but there is collateral damage from all of this and a lot of innocent people are on the hook."

At the Latchis forum Saturday, Welch said he heard from a number of Windham County residents who were looking for some direction in making sure they were in line to at least apply for the stimulus money.

Federal funds are available for transportation projects, for education, energy and weatherization and the health and human services.

Welch said Congress wanted the states to control where the money ends up and now the Legislature and Gov. James Douglas will work together to get the money into the hands of workers to try to get the economy moving.

Welch also spent part of his time talking about the role Vermont could play as the Obama administration puts resources into growing the sustainable energy economy.

With Welch on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Sen. Bernard Sanders, the newly appointed chairman of the Senate subcommittee on green jobs, Vermont is well positioned to emerge from the recession as a leader in creating green jobs.

"People are still having a tough time and we've got a long way to go still," Welch said. "But in creating green jobs there is a way to keep more energy dollars at home. There is a way to turn this crisis into opportunity."