Top News: GOP Blocks Sanders Effort to Force Vote on Slashing Drug Prices

 

February 10, 2022 Top News Progressives Call On Democrats to Endorse 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights "Only progressive Democrats truly stand for the type of economy and society that the overwhelming majority of Americans support." by Jenna McGuire Analysis Shows How Rooftop Solar Could Have Saved Lives During Texas Deep Freeze "Even as millions of Texans, including my family, shivered in the cold last February, the sun was shining over our heads," said the head of Environment Texas Research & Policy Center. by Jessica Corbett US Lawmakers With Pipeline Stocks Profit as Gas Exports to Europe Soar "Members of Congress who own stock in pipeline companies like Enterprise Products stand to profit from the push to export liquid fossil gas amid Russia-Ukraine tensions," according to a new investigation. by Kenny Stancil GOP Blocks Sanders Effort to Force Vote on Slashing Drug Prices "How many people need to die, how many people need to get unnecessarily sicker, before Congress is prepared to take on the greed of the prescription drug industry?" asked Sen. Bernie Sanders. by Jake Johnson MORE NEWS Opinion Avoiding War With Russia Over Ukraine Is Not Weakness—It Is the Right Thing to Do We must do everything possible to find a diplomatic resolution to prevent what would be an enormously destructive war in Ukraine. by Bernie Sanders Belligerent Right-Wingers in Trucks Given Free Rein Over Ottawa The foreign-funded truckers behaved like they’d been handed keys to the city, which in a way they had. by Linda McQuaig MORE OPINION Common Dreams PO Box 443 Portland, ME 04112 United States

Congress members should not be allowed to buy and trade individual stocks.

 

Here’s the situation:

Members of Congress have access to sensitive and privileged information as part of their jobs to be able to anticipate and legislate for what’s to come.

But right now, Members of Congress are able to use this sensitive information to make huge profits from buying and trading individual stocks that they know will perform well.

It’s how we end up with situations like this:

Alexandria has repeatedly said that Congress members should not have the ability to access privileged information and be able to hold and trade individual stock. It's why she’s worked with her colleagues to ban members of Congress from trading individual stock for YEARS.

There have been lots of stories and scandals about stock trading, but now – thanks to increased public pressure and attention – we may have a shot to pass this ban once and for all.

But we need to keep the pressure up. Please add your name here if you agree with Alexandria and support a ban on members of Congress trading individual stocks.

Add your name →

To be clear, it’s one thing to have a blind trust or invest in a mutual fund or index fund. These are vehicles of investment that are broad and that individuals in Congress don’t have control over.

But the fact is that a majority of Congress members hold and trade individual stocks. Last year, there were at least 75 members of Congress who held individual stock in Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer.¹ That’s where we should be drawing the line.

If you agree that we should ban stock trading for ALL members of Congress, please add your name next to Alexandria’s and help grow our movement to make sure this becomes law.

In solidarity,

Team AOC

 

1 - Business Insider

 

Email us: us@ocasiocortez.com

Email is the most important way we keep in touch with people like you, so thank you for reading to the end. Small donors like you keep us going. To contribute via check, please address to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress, PO Box 680080, Corona, NY 11368.

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Paid for by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress

Naked corruption

 

BREAKING: A powerful lawmaker just unveiled a new push to increase the already astronomical Pentagon budget by $37 BILLION, plowing money to defense contractors for unnecessary warships, fighter jets, tanks, and helicopters. [1]

Why is this happening? Well, maybe it’s a coincidence, but a new investigation found nearly four dozen members of Congress hold shares in weapons corporations — companies whose value has risen nearly 900% since the start of the war in Afghanistan. [2]

These companies profit from keeping our priorities focused on weapons and war. But redistributing taxpayer money to corporations, and then personally profiting? It’s naked corruption — and the consequences are life or death. 

Not many are willing to go up against the enormous influence of mega defense corporations and their lobbyists, but that’s what Win Without War is built to do. Together with a growing cohort of brave lawmakers we’re fighting tooth and nail to block this latest attempt to blow-out the bloated Pentagon budget, and we need your support: 

Our David and Goliath battle depends on grassroots donations, but less than 1% of those reading will give. Our average donation is $16.83, and any amount will fuel our fight to block the bloated Pentagon budget. 

These “death dollars” fuel wars like the one in Afghanistan while denying funds for urgently under-resourced areas like public healthcare, education, and refugee resettlement. 

From millions in donations every election cycle, to job-creation schemes in the districts of key lawmakers, to the revolving door into the Pentagon — the omnipresence of the corruption of the defense industry is as powerful as it is devastating. 

It’s not just Congress that’s caught in this corrupt nexus. We see it in the abject failure by most media outlets to point out that their parade of ex-military and ex-public officials are almost all on the payroll of the weapons industry as advisors or board members. These same folks have dominated recent discussions about Afghanistan across cable news.

And now, in addition to $37 BILLION more that’s being pushed for in the annual Pentagon Budget, it’s once more clear as defense corporations and their lobbyists have greedily clamored to claim a $3 BILLION windfall from funds that had been allocated to the recently collapsed Afghan security forces. 

It’s high time that we stop spending where war profiteers and arms lobbyists want, and start spending on the things that will improve peoples’ lives.

From fulfilling our obligation to the people of Afghanistan, to responding to hurricanes and forest fires fueled by climate change, to fixing our broken healthcare system still under the stress of COVID, the war industry’s insatiable appetite for death dollars completely distorts our country’s priorities for their own self-interest. 

And with your help, Win Without War is determined to turn the status quo around. 

This is a massive uphill battle, but we are better positioned than ever to build power and win. A donation of $15 can make an enormous difference as we use every tool we’ve got to block the bloated Pentagon budget.

The past twenty years should be a clear signal that the last thing that will build security and peace is yet another war, yet more destruction, and yet more unnecessarily lost lives. 

Congress spends hundreds of billions of dollars each year on keeping the arms industry afloat. As we finally turn the page on the disastrous U.S. war in Afghanistan, the very last thing we should be doing is plowing more desperately needed taxpayer dollars into our military arsenal.

Thank you for working for peace,

Erica, Faith, Annika, and the Win Without War team

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1. Sludge, “Lawmakers Benefit From Booming Defense Stocks”
2. Defense News, “Rogers proposes $25 billion defense plus-up ahead of NDAA markup”

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