PRESS RELEASE
LaRouche PAC’s and EIR’s Glass-Steagall Mobilization Picks Up Steam
Feb. 19, 2017 (EIRNS)—Targeting Feb. 28 when President Donald Trump first speaks to Congress, the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee, along with other Democratic Party activists, have collected nearly 4,000 signatures calling on the President to propose re-enacting the 1933 Glass-Steagall bank separation law—petitions which Glass-Steagall sponsors in Congress hope to present to the President by that date. Some 1,500 of the "Trump" petitions from Ohio alone have been conveyed to sponsor Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). Glass-Steagall legislation, the "Return To Prudent Banking Act," was introduced in the House of Representatives Feb. 1 and now has 32 sponsors there.
In the same mobilization, LaRouche PAC activists and EIR representatives have obtained the legislatures of eleven states in just over one month to file resolutions calling on Congress for Glass-Steagall and/or for the "American Recovery Program." The latter starts with Glass-Steagall and consists of actions based on Lyndon LaRouche’s "Four Laws To Save the Nation." In four of those states—Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, and Delaware—these resolutions have moved in both houses of the legislature.
These actions are concentrated in the industrial or "Rust Belt" states of the Midwest and South, and resolutions by legislators in more states are anticipated soon.
After more than two years of many discussions of, and meetings on the "American Recovery Program" or "LaRouche’s Four Laws" with state officials, a new optimism about economic change, following the extraordinary Presidential election, is one factor in these rapid actions. Alabama State Rep. Thomas Jackson, for example, advanced such a resolution without obtaining any cosponsors in 2016, but has nine cosponsors this year.
But the full involvement of LaRouche PAC activists and petitioners has also played an important role in states like Illinois, Ohio, and Iowa. In Kansas, the Cattlemen’s Association posted phone numbers of the entire legislature and Congressional delegation, along with an article on the "Four Laws" by LaRouche PAC’s Bob Baker. A few of the legislators themselves have become "activists" in the cause.
Though no resolutions have been voted through state bodies yet, most of the legislatures involved will remain in session for some time after the President’s speech to Congress. This gives the opportunity for more activists to get involved petitioning and recruiting more sponsors in their state legislatures.
During this Congressional recess of Feb. 18-26, many congressmen and senators will hold large and highly controversial town hall meetings. LaRouche PAC activists in the New York Metropolitan Area plan to be at six of the town halls. In their first intervention Feb. 18, they "were swarmed by people to sign the petition." With 53 signers from roughly 300 attending, they distributed 200 copies of their Hamiltonian weekly, and were interviewed by NPR and Telemundo, a U.S. Spanish-language TV network. Activist Marta Gallegos told Telemundo, "It’s very important to support the President" this way.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D), holding the town hall, was given a packet of literature and said, "Glass-Steagall, yes, we need that."
