Before 6/18 assembly, Poor People’s Campaign briefs Congress
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Martha Waggoner | mwaggoner@breachrepairers.org
**MEDIA ADVISORY**
Faith-Based and Community Leaders from Across the Country to Brief Congressional Progressive Caucus, Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity & Other Members of Congress on Urgent Call for Policies that Meet the Needs of the 140 Million Poor and Low-Wealth People in America
MEMBERS ALSO BRIEFED ON UPCOMING MASS POOR PEOPLE’S & LOW-WAGE WORKERS’ ASSEMBLY AND MORAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON
WHO:
U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
U.S. Representative Barbara Lee (CA-13), Chair of the Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17)
Testifiers
Bishop William J. Barber, II, and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, National Co-Chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign
Aaron Scott on rural poverty in America, Washington State
Guadelupe de la Cruz on immigration and the child tax credit, Florida
Kenya Slaughter on organizing at Dollar General, Louisiana
Morgan Leavy on organizing at Starbucks, Texas
Jessica Boyles on being a home health care worker, Pennsylvania
Rev. Carolyn Foster on voting rights and health care, Alabama
Dontae Sharpe on voting rights of incarcerated people, North Carolina
Catherine Jozwick on pollution, West Virginia
Fernando Garcia on gun violence and the Southern border, Texas
Kyle Bibby on militarism and the war economy, New Jersey
Vanessa Nosie on Apache Stronghold struggle in Oak Flat, Arizona
Hosts
Poor People's Campaign
Repairers of the Breach
Kairos Center
Institute for Policy Studies
Economic Policy Institute
Honorary hosts
Congressional Progressive Caucus
Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity
WHAT:
Three days before the Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and
Moral March on Washington and to the Polls, members of Congress will convene to hear directly from poor and low-income people who are part of the Poor People’s Campaign.
Poor people and low-wage workers, along with the National Co-Chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign, will offer testimony to members of Congress on a “Third Reconstruction Agenda” to confront systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the denial of health care, militarism and the false narratives of religious nationalism and white supremacy. These testifiers are among 140 million people who are poor or low-income living in the US, accounting for over 40 percent of the population and nearly one-third of the electorate.
This briefing will offer a preview to Congress of the agenda of the June 18 Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Moral March on Washington and to the Polls that will bring thousands of allies and people of faith and conscience to the nation’s capital, who will commit to organizing a broad-based movement that can confront these interlocking injustices with a Third Reconstruction Agenda to Heal the Nation: End Poverty and Low Wages from the Bottom Up.
The briefing will be livestreamed here.
“We look forward to encouraging our allies to keep fighting and pushing those against us to see how they are hurting their people. We will make it clear this is not a momentary effort; we won’t be silent anymore - with our voices, votes, and non-violent protest, including civil disobedience if necessary. We must press members of Congress on our demands that the laws, legislation, and budgets of this nation be based on the five key principles of the US Constitution: to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and future generations. We will provide testimony that poor and low-income people voted in record numbers in 2020, accounting for nearly one-third of all votes,” said Rev. Drs. William Barber and Liz Theoharis, National Co-Chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign.
“At a time when nearly 30 million U.S. workers earn less than $15 per hour, it is time for the nation to embrace a federal minimum wage of at least $15 an hour, a commitment to enact living wages in a timely manner, and the right to form and join unions for all workers,” said Heidi Shierholz, President of the Economic Policy Institute.
“We applaud the Poor People’s Campaign calling out the outrage that billionaire wealth surged by over $2 trillion during the pandemic, but that under current tax laws these gains go largely untaxed? We join them in their demand that fair taxation on the ultra-rich, corporations and Wall Street,” said Tope Folarin, Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Studies.
“I join the Poor People’s Campaign in their demand that we expand and protect Medicare and Medicaid; that we achieve a universal, single-payer national health care system so that everyone, regardless of income, ability, gender expression, documentation, carceral status or pre-existing conditions can get the care they deserve; and that we create a system that works for everyone and not just the privileged few,” said Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“I stand with the Poor People’s Campaign’s demand that our government prioritize peace by reducing military spending by at least 10% now and redirecting those resources towards diplomacy, humanitarian aid and the priorities in this agenda. I support their demand that spending on mass incarceration, immigration enforcement and policing be redirected towards community-based infrastructure, programs and resources that prioritize communities most impacted by this violence,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Chair of the Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity.
WHEN:
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
4:00-5:30 p.m.
WHERE:
Longworth House Office Building, Room 1539
For more information, contact:
Olivia Alperstein, IPS, olivia@ips-dc.org, 202-704-9011
Nick Kauzlarich, EPI: nkauzlarich@epi.org
Siham Zniber, Rep. Jayapal: siham.zniber@mail.house.gov
Sean M. Ryan, Rep. Lee: sean.ryan@mail.house.gov
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About the Poor People’s Campaign
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is uniting people across the nation to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality of religious nationalism. https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org