Center for Popular Democracy Action's Ady Barkan Responds To Tax Vote
"We may have lost the vote, but we won the moral argument," says advocate at national community organizing network
12.20.2017
WASHINGTON - In response to passage of legislation in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives that would dramatically alter the U.S. tax code, Center for Popular Democracy Action (CPD Action) released the following statement from Ady Barkan, Director of the Fed Up campaign, who has relentlessly advocated against the bill:
"Millions of Americans have pleaded with our representatives to listen to our stories and understand exactly how this bill would hurt us. Republicans have ignored our pleas. They have tried to close their eyes to the damage that their bill would inflict, choosing instead to listen only to the wealthy donors whispering in their ears. They have done real damage. And it will cost them their jobs in 2018.
Democracy was not meant to favor the wealthy few. Democracy is a shared project. it works only when we invest in protecting each other from the unlucky blows that anyone could face on any given day. I didn't expect to get ALS at 32. People don't expect to lose their jobs. To lose their savings. To lose family members.
But when they do, it is our collective responsibility to ensure we can get back on our feet and continue to have the opportunity to pursue a better life for ourselves and our families. That's what the social safety net is all about.
This bill takes an ax to that foundational American promise. It is the work of a party that has totally lost its course. A party that has lost sight of its constituents' humanity. This bill has pulled back the curtains, once and for all, on the greed and corruption that define the modern Republican Party.
But make no mistake, the fight has only just begun. We may have lost the vote, but we won the moral argument with the American people. And we will spend every day until November 2018 ensuring that Republicans pay the price for this morally bankrupt piece of legislation.
The bill will kickstart an even stronger wave of organizing across the country as Americans learn more about the bill. It will energize communities that have been left behind for too long and that are standing up every day to fight for their right to dignity and security.
And we will be there every step of the way, organizing communities in states blue and red to reclaim our democracy and return the promotion of human dignity to government once again."
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Media Contact:
Asya Pikovsky, apikovsky@populardemocracy.org
