Last Friday, we delivered a letter to the Obama administration's pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, telling him to stop payment on Ken Lewis' outrageous compensation package until Bank of America cleaned up its act. The letter was signed by more than 11,000 of you, demanding a halt to CEO bonuses until banks stopped using our tax dollars to lobby against financial reform.

Today, the pay czar announced that he is taking action on Ken Lewis' outrageous compensation, asking for a stop to any salary or bonuses for 2009:

In fact, Mr. Lewis will have to repay the North Carolina-based bank more than $1 million in salary he has already earned.

The move was demanded by Kenneth Feinberg, the U.S. Treasury Department's special master for compensation, and was agreed to by Mr. Lewis and the bank. Mr. Feinberg's rationale is based largely on the fact that Mr. Lewis will leave the firm with a package of retirement benefits and other stock awards worth between $69.3 million and $120 million, these people said.

Clearly, Ken Lewis is not going to walk away a poor man. He's still going to take home more than you or I will ever make in a lifetime. But, after thousands of us demanded action, the pay czar is using his power to clamp down on Bank of America's out of control payouts.

It's a start. The problem is, every other headline in today's Wall Street Journal is about soaring profits and record bonuses for America's big banks. For them, the party's just getting started.

For us, the picture is much more bleak. You don't need a newspaper to figure that out. In every community, foreclosures continue to rise, families are declaring bankruptcy, and banks are blocking any attempts to fix the problem.

Today's announcement makes me feel good about our power to make a difference. Let's take the next step and tell banks we're not going to let them get away with this.

Click here to demand a meeting with the banks next weekend in Chicago.