PROGRESSIVES BLAST ‘PORK LEGISLATION’

(ENS)-Citizen advocates called on President Bush and Congress to end the outburst of wartime opportunism since the attack on the World Trade Towers in New York. “Since September 11, members of Congress have served up a nonstop buffet of corporate pork legislation,” said Ralph Nader, consumer advocate and Citizen Works founder. “Under the guise of ‘national security’ our federal treasury is being raided and democratic rights are being taken away while Congress feeds sympathetic campaign contributors at taxpayer expense, sends working people to fight, and leaves the unemployed, disenfranchised, and American families to suffer.”

Opportunism in Washington ranges from multi-billion dollar corporate tax cuts to calls for expansion of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. “For corporations to loot the Treasury and prey on the environment while wrapping themselves in the flag is an act of sheer treachery” said John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace USA. Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth, said, “The administration and many in Congress are pushing energy legislation that will actually weaken national security.”

Citizen Works, a pro-democracy citizen organization, criticized the economic stimulus plan that benefits corporate treasuries and neglects workers, and the reemergence of “fast track” legislation that would hinder congressional input into international trade agreements. Also criticized were handouts for the insurance industry, tax breaks for billionaires instead of the poor, and price gouging by pharmaceutical companies. “The nation recognizes that the heroes of this tragedy are our nation’s working people, but all Congress and the president want to do is give more tax breaks to big business and the nation’s wealthiest people,” said Mildred Brown, past national president of ACORN.