I groaned, but it was past time to do something and on the whole I was relieved that the former administration recognized that something had to be done.

I confess to not being thrilled about the method of accounting for the way the money was spent. Nor have I been overly pleased about the tax-cut-plus-war spending that resulted in the already high deficits we had before TARP.

On behalf of my children, I still am not happy with the deficit or the deficit to be, but I would rather hand them a reasonably intact country with a mortgage than financial collapse and civil chaos. These appear to be our choices at this time, unlike 2006.

This bill is being rejected by most Republicans. I am pleased with Arlen Specter, one of my Senators, who said that he would have preferred to vote for a bill that made him happier, but that he would vote for the compromise bill that was offered because he realized that something must be done and that he was not elected to the Senate in order to do nothing.