WASHINGTON, DC –(ENEWSPF)—December 12, 2014. The House voted on a spending bill (H.R. 83) yesterday. Rep. Jan Schakowsky voted ‘No’ on the bill because of several deeply troubling provisions. She issued the following statement on the matter:
“I strongly oppose the spending bill that House Republicans brought to the floor today. There are least three deeply disturbing provisions in the bill.
First, the bill contains a massive giveaway to the same Wall Street bankers who nearly bankrupted our economy. Yet these same Wall Street banks, now making record profits, saw an opportunity to scoop up more. They were able to add a rider to an appropriations bill, which would once again allow those banks to make reckless investments and bill the taxpayers if they go bad. The legislation repeals a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act called the “Prohibition against Federal Government Bailouts of Swap Entities”. There is clearly no limit to greed.
Second, this spending bill cuts pensions. More than a million Americans could lose much of the benefits they have earned over their lifetimes. This provision, for the first time, takes away earned benefits from current retirees. I have heard from constituents whose monthly pension could be cut from $3,000 to $1,000 and are wondering how they can pay their bills if this is allowed to go forward. At a time when Americans are increasingly worried about their retirement security, we must find other solutions than cutting the pensions of retirees who faithfully made their pension payments over their working lives and cannot afford to lose those hard-earned benefits.
Third, this bill allows the super-rich to contribute more than 8 times the current amount to the Republican National Committee or the Democratic National Committee. The super-wealthy already have an outsized amount of influence in our political system. This provision would give them even more power. We cannot have an economy that works for all if we have a political system that is funded by the wealthy few. That is not the American way and not what the American people elected us to do on their behalf.
Are there some good parts of this bill? Yes. But these three provisions could be so harmful that I strongly opposed this measure and encouraged other to oppose it as well. Though the one percent are having a banner year, many American families are still struggling. With these three provisions, this bill gives a huge holiday gift to the people that already have most everything they could ever want financially and hurts the rest of us.”
Source: Schakowsky.house.gov
