| This week, Americans United for Change (AUC) named the 18 members of the House as "Public Enemies" for their "full frontal, unapologetic assault on the middle class agenda" of the new Congress. It really does not come much as a surprise that our Congressman from NJ's 5th District was one of those 18 "Public Enemies".
These 18, says AUC, committed dangerous acts against the middle class by voting against raising the federal minimum wage and against the Employee Free Choice Act. Half of the 18 even voted against the College Student Relief Act, which will cut college loan interests rates to make a college education more affordable for middle class students and families. Garrett was the only Congressman from NJ who voted against it. (Click here to see the votes).
The other 17 public enemies are - Michelle Bachmann (MN-6), Marilyn Musgrave (CO-4), Jeff Fortenberry (NE-1), Steve King (IA-5), Bill Sali (ID-1), Brian Bilbray (CA-50), John Doolittle (CA-4), Roy Blunt (MO-7), Roscoe Bartlett (MD-6), Steve Chabot (OH-1), Tom Davis (VA-11), Thelma Drake (VA-2), Vernon Ehlers (MI-3), Mike Rogers (MI-8), Dean Heller (NV-2), Jon Porter (NV-3) and Peter Roskam (IL-6).
While more than 18 Republicans voted against both the minimum wage increase and the Employee Free Choice Act in the House, these 18 were selected as public enemies of the middle class because they either come from districts where these issues have gained added resonance because of the growing disparity between the wages of workers and corporate executives or because they had been identified as persuadable on these issues.
Read more about this at the Amercians United for Change website.
Americans United for Change was founded in 2005 and worked with a coalition of groups, including the AFL-CIO, to defeat President Bush's drive to privatize Social Security. |
