Pascrell Puts Workers First in Economic Recovery

Pascrell Puts Workers First in Economic Recovery

 

Joins Diverse Group of Lawmakers in Call for Corporate Accountability Guardrails in Economic Relief Package

 

PATERSON, NJ – As the COVID-19 pandemic has led to massive layoffs and economic hardship across the United States, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) joined with 101 House colleagues in urging that any economic relief package for industries affected by the pandemic puts workers first and includes corporate accountability measures.

 

“We write to urge that any future legislation considered by the House to provide taxpayer assistance to large corporations put workers first and include essential corporate accountability provisions,” the lawmakers wrote.

 

A copy of the letter is below. For a PDF version of the letter, click here.

 

March 20, 2020

 

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of the House

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

 

The Honorable Steny Hoyer

House Majority Leader

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

 

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer:

 

We write to urge that any future legislation considered by the House to provide taxpayer assistance to large corporations put workers first and include essential corporate accountability provisions.

 

In 2008, the federal government provided hundreds-of-billions to Wall Street to respond to the financial crisis, awarding Wall Street a virtually no-strings-attached bailout. The results for Wall Street were tremendous – a quick return to profitability, large executive compensation packages, major stock buy-back programs, and more.

 

For working families, the results were disappointing. For years, American families struggled to return to financial stability, and many still have not. Workers lost jobs, hard-earned pensions, benefits and never fully recovered.

 

There is no doubt that our current crisis is much different than the 2008 financial crisis. Our country is headed toward a recession that will impact everyone from Wall Street’s senior executives to America’s working families.

 

We fully support your commitment to ensuring any additional emergency response legislation puts relief for working families ahead of any aid to large corporations. To the extent that any direct assistance to particular industries is considered, we seek some accountability rather than a blank check. To that end, we urge that any legislation include appropriate guardrails for those corporations accepting taxpayer funding, including:

 

  • Workers must come first. Corporations must use federal assistance to maintain their payrolls without demanding concessions on wages or benefits. Workers must be protected in the case of bankruptcy and no funds should be used for anti-union campaigns or to undermine collective bargaining efforts.
  • Tax dollars must not be used to reward wealthy shareholders and executives. No stock buybacks, dividends, or executive bonuses until federal funds are repaid in full.
  • Cap on senior executive pay. No corporate executives should make more than 50 times the pay of their median worker.
  • Workers must have a seat at the table. Corporate recipients of public assistance must reserve at least one seat on their board for a representative elected by workers.
  • Companies must be held accountable. An oversight authority must be established to ensure corporate compliance with these conditions. The oversight board must include worker representatives. CEOs should personally certify compliance and violations of the terms should trigger criminal penalties and claw-backs of public assistance.
  • Taxpayers must have a stake in the company. Taxpayers should receive equity in return for assistance to ensure that once companies return to fiscal health, the public can benefit from its investment.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Peter A. DeFazio Lloyd Doggett
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Jamie Raskin Chellie Pingree
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

David N. Cicilline Deb Haaland
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Marcy Kaptur Grace F. Napolitano
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Alan Lowenthal Mark Takano
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Jerrold Nadler Anthony G. Brown
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Jan Schakowsky Linda Sanchez
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Tim Ryan Barbara Lee
Member of Congress Member of Congress
 

Earl Blumenauer

Mary Gay Scanlon
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Mark Pocan Eleanor Holmes Norton
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Debbie Dingell Eddie Bernice Johnson
Member of Congress Member of Congress
   
Jesús G. “Chuy” García Joaquin Castro
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Joe Neguse Pramila Jayapal
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Tony Cardenas Veronica Escobar
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Ted W. Lieu Andy Levin
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Judy Chu Ro Khanna
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Rashida Tlaib
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Raúl M. Grijalva Rosa DeLauro
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Bonnie Watson Coleman Bobby L. Rush
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

James P. McGovern Joe Kennedy
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Jahana Hayes Ilhan Omar
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Betty McCollum Alcee L. Hastings
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell Gilbert R. Cisneros
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Mike Doyle Brendan F. Boyle
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Adriano Espaillat Brenda L. Lawrence
Member of Congress Member of Congress
   
Joyce Beatty Wm. Lacy Clay
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Ayanna Pressley Emanuel Cleaver
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Val Demings Julia Brownley
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Jared Huffman
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Peter Welch André Carson
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Gerald E. Connolly Daniel T. Kildee
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Haley M. Stevens Katie Porter
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Dina Titus Joe Courtney
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Angie Craig Albio Sires
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Donna Shalala Darren Soto
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

A. Donald McEachin Marcia L. Fudge
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Danny K. Davis Nydia M. Velázquez
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

John Garamendi Stephen Lynch
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Paul Tonko Eliot L. Engel
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Thomas R. Suozzi Dwight Evans
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Donald Norcross Norma J. Torres
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan John Larson
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Lucille Roybal-Allard Bill Pascrell, Jr.
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Lisa Blunt Rochester Sanford D. Bishop, Jr.
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

John Sarbanes Suzanne Bonamici
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Yvette D. Clarke Ruben Gallego
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Dave Loebsack Jimmy Gomez
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Madeleine Dean Max Rose
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Karen Bass Brian Higgins
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. John Yarmuth
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

Frank Pallone, Jr. Grace Meng
Member of Congress Member of Congress

 

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