NEWS BRIEFS
Robin Hood Tax Supporters
Confront Legislators
O
NATIONAL
n oct. 2, the four-year anniversary of the bank bailout, nurses
and other Robin Hood Tax
supporters confronted lawmakers across the nation to ask
point blank whether they sided with corporate interests, or whether they sided with
Main Street by supporting legislation that
would levy a small sales tax on Wall Street
financial transactions.
6
N AT I O N A L N U R S E
From California to Chicago to Florida,
RNs put on their Robin Hood caps and red
scrub tops and met at Congressmembers���
offices, carrying poster boards showing how
the federal government scrambled in just 18
days to bail out Wall Street during the 2008
financial meltdown with billions of dollars,
but average working Americans have received
little help and are still desperately struggling
against unemployment, home foreclosures,
hunger, and lack of medical care.
Rep. Keith Ellison from Minnesota
recently introduced a bill, HR 6411, that
W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G
would establish a 0.5 percent tax on stock
trades and other financial transactions that
would generate up to $350 billion a year to
fund jobs, healthcare, environmental, and
other initiatives to support working people
during these tough economic times.
���It���s been 48 months and counting, and
we still haven���t been paid back,��� said Deborah Burger, RN and member of the NNU
Council of Presidents to a group outside
Rep. Nancy Pelosi���s office in San Francisco.
���We want to make sure that Main Street gets
the help that they need.
Many Congressmembers tried to duck the
nurses, but Rep. Danny Davis from Chicago
cut one of his meetings short in order to meet
with the 30 nurses assembled at his office. He
said that supporting the Robin Hood Tax was
O C TO B E R 2 0 1 2
