This Week in The Halls of Power: We get a bigger ballroom for our Thursday 40th Anniv. Gala, petition the FDA and tell supercommittee members to get it together!
This week, Public Citizen is gearing up to celebrate our 40th anniversary! Demand for tickets for our 40th Anniversary Gala with special guest Bill Moyers have been so high we just upgraded to a bigger ballroom to accommodate more guests. Many of you might wonder what all the big fuss is about, and to you all we say:
You know the Reye’s syndrome warnings on aspirin? Us.
How about seat belts and airbags that have saved hundreds of thousands of lives? You’re welcome.
First national conference of anti-nuclear activists. We organized it.
Remember when Nixon tried to fire Archibald Cox who was investigating Watergate? Our case before the U.S. Supreme Court changed the course of history.
Twenty two dangerous drugs are no longer on your shelves thanks to us. Yes, that’s right — 22!
However, there is so much more that remains to be done and, in many cases, we are fighting tooth and nail to ensure the progress we have accomplished isn’t reversed. So we hope you will consider joining us and Peabody Award-winning journalist Bill Moyers—along with Public Citizen founders Ralph Nader, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Alan Morrison and Joan Claybrook—as we reflect on all we’ve accomplished in our first 40 years and look ahead to the work we have to do in our fifth decade and beyond. Public Citizen stands up to corporate power and holds government accountable. As such, we accept NO corporate or government money. Your generosity is essential and deeply appreciated by those who continue to carry the torch and make sure your voices are heard this week and every week in The Halls of Power.
That being said, here’s a snapshot of the issues, actions and questions we are tackling:
Later in the week, you will want to stay tuned as we will be petitioning the FDA, urging it not to approve for another use a particular drug that is already on the market . . .
Question: Is anyone watching?! Public Citizen’s Congress Watch’s Micah Haupton blogs about the impending “commodities bubble” later today.
The fight to halt construction of the Keystone dirty oil pipeline continues. Our own Allison Fisher, outreach director for Public Citizen’s Energy Program, weighs in on the ongoing efforts: “A report from the Keystone Protest: This is what democracy looks like.”
Meanwhile, our case study of medical malpractice limits is making waves in Texas. If the GOP had much to say about it, you would think that patients were the reason health care costs have skyrocketed! The fact of the matter is, a failed experiment in Texas shows that the imposition in Texas of medical liability caps – which prevent the most severely injured patients from being fully compensated for damage caused by bad doctors – has not reduced medical costs or curbed the ordering of expensive diagnostic tests. Instead, health care is less available and more expensive, a new Public Citizen report shows.
On the direct action front, we continue to push for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission [the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said corporations can spend as much as they want to influence elections] and are excited to have U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on board for our November 9th house party calls. There is still time for you to get involved!
Finally, it’s time for the supercommittee to listen to the concerns of the American people. We hope you will join us in telling the supercommittee to do the most obvious first– tax Wall Street and cut fossil fuel subsidies.