Members of Congress Must Take a Stand Against Financial Executives Who Pay for Preferential Access to Congressional Hearings
(WASHINGTON, DC) – Wednesday April 10th at the 9:00 a.m. hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on the role of Mega Banks Post Financial crisis, NACA with hundreds of supporters will confront the privileged access of financial executives. NACA will expose and confront the undemocratic process where often homeless people are hired to wait in line for many hours to be replaced just before the actual Congressional hearing by Washington’s wealthy and well-connected with Pay-to-Play preferential access.
NACA has sent letters to every member of the House Financial Services Committee and house leadership to stop this taking away of public access. This anti-democratic scheme involves paid line-sitters where bank, industry and government representatives pay hundreds of dollars to hold their place in line. Sadly, this is a source of funds for homeless people who serve as some of the line-sitters. This allows the wealthy and well-connected to demonstrate a show of force to the committee and prevents the rightful access of community members and individuals directly impacted by predatory and abusive activities. Only those who wait in line should be able to attend which will not prevent anyone who has a strong desire to attend the hearing from waiting in line and getting in fairly.
While this should not be a partisan issue, providing access to public committee hearings in a fair manner can be done immediately by the democratic leadership. NACA CEO Bruce Marks states, “This new Congress has set voter rights and democracy as the top priority, with many members of Congress advocating for transparency and increased participation. The new house leadership must be accountable in both words and actions by preventing this Pay-to-Play. This would send a strong message that those with money and connections will no longer have preferential access at the expense of the public and provide a real diversity of positions to the important issues addressed by Congress.”