‘Public Enemies:’ They’re Not Packing Heat—They’re Casting Votes

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/03/11/public-enemies-they%e2%80%99re-not-packing-heat%e2%80%94they%e2%80%99re-casting-votes/

‘Public Enemies:’ They’re Not Packing Heat—They’re Casting Votes

by Mike Hall, Mar 11, 2007

They may not be the Depression-era, bank-robbing, Tommy-gun toting Public Enemies like John Dillinger or Bonnie and Clyde, but 18 newly named “Public Enemies of the Middle Class” are awfully dangerous in their own right.

This week, Americans United for Change named the 18 members of the House as “Public Enemies” for their “full frontal, unapologetic assault on the middle class agenda” of the new Congress.

While unlikely ever to face a judge and jury or a shootout with G-men, these 18, says the group, committed dangerous acts against the middle class by voting against raising the federal minimum wage and against the Employee Free Choice Act. Half of the 18 even voted against cutting college loan interests rates to make a college education more affordable for middle class students and families.

Says Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Americans United for Change:

More and more of America’s working people are struggling to make ends meet, and our middle class is disappearing. At least two meaningful pieces of legislation to reverse this trend have already come before Congress this year—and, unfortunately, these 18 members were nowhere to be found when the middle class families they represent needed them most.

It’s a question of priorities and a question of values—and it’s clear that each of these members has lost touch with the values of middle class Americans, who overwhelmingly support these important initiatives. Until they get their priorities straight in Washington and stop pandering to the special interests at the expense of working people, we will continue to identify each member as their district’s ‘Middle Class Public Enemy No.1.’

The 18—all Republicans—are:

Brian Bilbray (Calif.), John Doolittle (Calif.), Marilyn Musgrave (Colo.), Bill Sali (Idaho), Peter Roskam (Ill.), Steve King (Iowa), Roscoe Bartlett (Md.), Vernon Ehlers (Mich.), Mike Rogers (Mich.), Michelle Bachmann (Minn.), Roy Blunt (Mo), Jeff Fortenberry (Neb), Scott Garrett (N.J.), Dean Heller (Nev.), Jon Porter (Nev.), Steve Chabot (Ohio), Tom Davis (Va.) and Thelma Drake (Va.).

A lot more than 18 House Republicans voted against both the minimum wage increase (116 against) and the Employee Free Choice Act (183 against). But Funk says these 18 were chosen for Post Office portraits because they either come from districts where these issues have gained added resonance, because of the growing disparity between the wages of workers and corporate executives or because they had been identified as persuadable on these issues, but didn’t stand up for the middle class. He says Americans United for Change

…is prepared to make ‘poster children’ out of these 18 members—and others—who continue to put the interests of corporate America…ahead of the interests of families and workers. If it takes television ads, online protests, public events with angry constituents to get these folks to do the right thing by middle class Americans—so be it.

Americans United for Change was founded in 2005 and worked with a coalition of groups, including the AFL-CIO, to defeat President Bush’s drive to privatize Social Security. Click here and here to learn more about the group and the list.

middle America.

country could instill. There is so much money being wasted on artificial security like the war.