TODAY @ 2 p.m. ET
Congressional Leaders, Progressive Grassroots React to
Trump’s Infrastructure Plan
CALL-IN NUMBER: 1 (888) 862-6557 PASSCODE: 45089006#
Trump’s Privatization Scam Will Enrich Wall Street at the Expense of Everyday People
In Response to Trump’s Speech, “Millions of Jobs” Coalition Announces
Democratic Infrastructure Campaign
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, immediately following President Trump’s planned infrastructure speech in Cincinnati, the Millions of Jobs Coalition will hold a telephone press conference to respond.
Congressional Democrats, including Rep. Keith Ellison, Rep. Mark Pocan, Rep. Jared Polis and Rep. Jamie Raskin, will join with leaders of the progressive grassroots coalition to warn against Trump’s plans to privatize public assets and give away billions of tax dollars to Wall Street banks and foreign investors, leaving the rest of us to pay the cost through tolls, fees, and levies over the next decade.
Speakers will discuss the progressive Millions of Jobs plan, which would rebuild America’s roads and bridges and invest in 21st century infrastructure, paid for by taxing Wall Street. The plan is supported by 45+ members of Congress, and 15 more Democratic co-sponsors of the resolution will be announced on the call.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 7, 2017. 2 p.m. ET
CALL-IN NUMBER: 1 (888) 862-6557
PASSCODE: 45089006#
SPEAKERS:
- Rep. Keith Ellison (MN-5), deputy chair of the DNC
- Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-2), Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair
- Rep. Jared Polis (CO-2)
- Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD-8)
- Dan Cantor, National Director, Working Families Party
- Anna Galland, Executive Director, MoveOn.org
- Sarah Badawi, Progressive Change Campaign Committees
- Connie Razza, Co-Director of Policy & Research, Demos
- Lashaya Darisaw, Michigan United member and resident of Flint
While President Trump’s plan will sell off public assets to Wall Street banks and other private investors, it won’t rebuild our infrastructure and isn’t guaranteed to create a single new job. Trump’s own transportation secretary Elaine Chao confirmed that Trump’s supposedly-trillion dollar proposal will include only $200 billion in federal funding – and that’s after “$206 billion in cuts to an array of infrastructure programs.”
Progressives plan to draw a clear battle line with Trump by putting forward a plan that creates millions of jobs rebuilding infrastructure, paid for by Wall Street. The progressive plan is a sharp contrast to Trump’s plan to sell off our public assets and enrich Wall Street banks as they levy tolls and fees on our public assets for generations to come.
Congressional Democrats and the Millions of Jobs Coalition have announced a resolution that calls for millions of new jobs through investment in roads, bridges, and 21st century projects. The resolution lays out principles that must be true of any jobs plan that passes into law:
- Invest in creating millions of new jobs.
- Prioritize public investment over corporate giveaways and selling off public goods.
- Ensure that direct public investment provides the overwhelming majority of the funds for infrastructure improvement.
- Prioritize racial and gender equity, environmental justice, and worker protections.
- Embrace 21st century clean-energy jobs.
- Protect wages, expand Buy American provisions, encourage project labor agreements, and prioritize the needs of disadvantaged communities – both urban and rural.
- Ensure the wealthiest Americans and giant corporations who reap the greatest economic benefit from public goods pay their fair share for key investments.
- It must not be paid for at the expense of Social Security and other vital programs.
- It must not weaken or repeal existing rules and laws protecting our environment, worker safety, wages, or equity hiring practices.
- Prioritize resilient infrastructure that can withstand natural disasters and cyber or physical attacks.
The Trump administration has made clear they support little direct public investment in jobs and will rely heavily on privatization and corporate giveaways.
People’s Action was formed last year in a rare merger of five national organizations, each with decades of organizing and activism history, creating one of the largest grassroots, people-powered networks in the country. People’s action is more than a million people across 29 states working for economic, racial, gender and climate justice – and to ensure everyone a voice in our political system.