FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: James Adams 202-536-7880
DATE: August 18, 2011 james.adams@thisisourdc.org
ANGRY UNEMPLOYED WORKERS, COMMUNITY MEMBERS
PROTEST REP. FRANK WOLF FOR FAILING TO CREATE JOBS
Rep. Wolf sides with CEOs and Wall Street bankers over middle class families
Washington DC – With no end to the jobs crisis in sight and fed up after a debt deal that will lead to job losses, over two hundred unemployed workers and community members from Northern Virginia and the District protested today outside the Herndon office of Rep. Frank Wolf. Representative Wolf spent his time in Washington protecting tax breaks for CEOs and corporations that ship jobs overseas and doing nothing to create jobs for regular people here in the District and Northern Virginia. OurDC asks the question, “Whose side is Wolf on – CEOs and Wall Street bankers or the rest of us?” Our community is hurting – we need jobs now.
Unemployed residents staged a filibuster, sharing their stories of life without a job inside Rep. Wolf’s office as protesters dropped off 20 thousand job applications symbolizing job losses at the Homeland Security Headquarters project in Southeast Washington. While District unemployment surpasses a 20 year high and Ward 8 in Southeast Washington has the nation’s highest pocket of unemployed residents, Rep. Wolf voted to stop funding for the new Homeland Security Headquarters in the heart of Ward8. The project would generate an estimated 20-thousand jobs.
The OurDC demonstration is part of a growing number of protests against Members of Congress this month by Americans who are fed up with politicians who side with CEOs and Wall Street bankers over middle class families and have failed to create jobs. Our DC’s Northern Virginia supporters are vowing to hold Rep. Wolf and other politicians accountable in next year’s elections and vote out anyone who doesn’t invest in creating quality jobs for the middle class.
Rep. Wolf has a Failing Report Card:
• Wolf voted for $2.9 trillion in tax breaks for big corporations;
• Wolf voted to kill more than 11,000 Virginia highway infrastructure jobs;
• Wolf voted against Homeland Security headquarters funding—killing more than 20,000 D.C. jobs.
“Wolf doesn’t care about me and my family, I’ve been looking for a good job for almost a year now, If he cared he would put some that tax money he’s given to those big companies into my community where we need it, ” said Johnnie Lucas an unemployed protester.
“Rep. Wolf and the other politicians only seem to be interested in protecting tax breaks for CEOs and cutting Medicare. These days, “cutting the budget” just seems like Washington-speak for “killing jobs,” said Kendall Fells, OurDC campaign director. Fells also says, “East of the River nearly one third of our families live in poverty, were living the pain of Rep. Wolf’s job killing policies.”
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