Coalition Pressures Congress to Reject Bankruptcy Bill; Rallies Planned Around Country on Wednesday, April 6; House Judiciary Committee Dems Dissent for 54 Pages
By David Swanson
An impressive coalition has been assembled during the past week to work, against all odds, for the defeat in the Congress of a bankruptcy bill passed last month in the Senate. The House has postponed any vote on the bill (S. 256) until after this week.
The groups lobbying against it include Democrats.com, Progressive Democrats of America (pdamerica.org), AFL-CIO (aflcio.org), People's Email Network (usalone.com), National Community Reinvestment Coalition (ncrc.org), Democracy Week (democracyweek.org), Politology (politology.us), National Organization for Women (now.org), The Nation (nation.org), Black Commentator (blackcommentator.com), Public Citizen (citizen.org), Center for American Progress (americanprogress.org), Billionaires for Bush (billionairesforbush.com), and more. See list at www.debtslavery.org
These organizations have been encouraging their members to Email, phone, and fax Congress. Already, over 10,000 Emails have been sent through the Democrats.com and People's Email Network alone, plus thousands more from PDA. With lots more coming from coalition partners, at least 100,000 Emails are expected to be sent this week. DebtSlavery.org is encouraging activists to phone Republican members of the Rules Committee, who are expected to send the bill to the full House without allowing amendments, and to phone Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, who has thus far failed to commit to organzing Democrats against this bill.
"The 'Debt Slavery' Bankruptcy Bill is the most oppressive economic legislation since the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850," said Democrats.com President Bob Fertik. "It would make it impossible for hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans to cope with an economic crisis caused by soaring catastrophic health care costs or extended unemployment. It would turn Americans into debt slaves to the credit card loansharks. What is next on the Republican agenda for shredding the social safety net: debtors' prisons and workhouses for the poor?"
"Any Democrat who votes for this bill, the most revoltingly Republican bill to come along this year, should be aware that we will remember it come next year's elections," said Kevin Spidel, Progressive Democrats of America Political Director.
Rallies Planned
Around Country on Wednesday, April 6
Targeting Democrats who have expressed support for the bill, but
also other congress members, members of the DebtSlavery.org
coalition plan to hold rallies in protest at district congressional
offices. Rallies, most of them led by Progressive Democrats of
America, are planned for Wednesday in several states, including at
least three cities in New York, one in Kansas, one in Nevada, and
one in South Dakota. For an up-to-date expanding list of these
events, see
www.debtslavery.org All
events will take place at noon, local time, on Wednesday, April 6.
House Judiciary Committee
Dems Dissent for 54 Pages
House Judiciary Committee Democratic members
'leaked' this 54-page
dissenting review of the bankruptcy bill:
http://rawstory.com/exclusives/dissenting_views_bankruptcy_405.htm
FOR MORE
INFORMATION:
Bob Fertik, President of Democrats.com,
bob@democrats.com or 718-424-7772; David Swanson, Board Member
of Progressive Democrats of America,
david@davidswanson.org or 202-329-7847; Kevin Spidel, PDA
Political Director,
kevin@pdamerica.org or 602-373-6990.
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