Thursday, December 11, 2014

CRomnibus stalled! Keep those calls and emails coming.

The Teamsters Union is urging members to call and write their representatives in Congress with a message: Vote NO on the spending bill that would slash pensions and put tired truckers on the road while empowering Wall Street and the wealthy.

It's working. The bill, nicknamed the CRomnibus, is stalled despite the threat of a government shutdown at midnight Friday if it doesn't pass. (Congress could instead just pass a bill to continue funding at current levels.)

The bill includes provisions that would cut multiemployer pension benefits for people who've already earned them. It would change the hours-of-service rule to let truck drivers work 82 hours a week instead of the current 70. On top of that, it would undo financial reforms and let big banks gamble with money insured by taxpayers. It would also raise the amount of money very rich people can give to political candidates by a factor of 10.

The Hill reported "Funding bill struggles for votes; Short-term measure an option."
A $1.1 trillion bill to keep the government open appeared to be teetering Thursday after House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) announced her opposition and the package narrowly survived a procedural vote. 
The House went into recess shortly after 2 p.m. after the debate on the bill had concluded, something that could signal GOP leaders aren’t sure they have the votes necessary to pass the bill... 
Pelosi in a floor speech Thursday afternoon harshly criticized the language on Wall Street and a separate provision allowing wealthy political contributors to greatly increase their annual donations to political committees. 
“It will not have my support,” Pelosi said. “This is a moral hazard. We're being asked to vote for a moral hazard.”
If you haven't yet, please email your representatives in Congress and tell them to vote no on the CRomnibus. Just click on this link to send an email: http://ibt.io/cromnibus

Click on this link to make a call: http://teamster.org/protectpensions

It will only take a few minutes to do both.