rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/covid-bailout-cant-be-a-gift-to-the-1?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-covid-bailout-cant-be-a-gift-to-the-1' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Americans for Financial Reform https://actionnetwork.org/groups/afr-advocacy-fund-c4 https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/groups/default_facebook_images/000/014/858/original/AFR_Action_Network_Default_(1).png?1738796429 Last month, Congress passed the CARES Act, a $2 trillion COVID relief bill, including a $500 million bailout for airlines and other companies hit by the pandemic, and letting the Federal Federal Reserve make trillions more available. However, the bill had only the very weakest rules to stop companies from passing bailout funds right along to their executives and shareholders and laying off workers anyway. As we learned in 2009, unless you expressly forbid companies asking for a bailout from using our tax money to enrich CEOs and shareholders and lay off workers, that’s absolutely what they’ll do. We’ve watched for years as the big banks and corporate America blew their rainy day funds on stock buybacks to artificially juice stock prices, allowing the CEO and shareholders to pocket the cash. In fact, the big 4 airlines spent $42.5 billion on stock buybacks over the last five years -- roughly the same amount they’re asking for from taxpayers now. Now, as congressional leadership negotiates the next COVID-19 relief package, they need to hear from you. Email your members of Congress and urge them to demand a moratorium on buybacks and dividends, and a cap on executive compensation to 50 times the median worker salary, for each and every company that wants federal help. PLEASE NOTE: This will generate a default email to your Representative. We ask for your address to determine who your member of Congress is. Some lawmakers require more information -- some may ask for a phone number, the topic of the email (we suggest choosing "Economy"), and some may even ask you to fill out a CAPTCHA. Please be aware this is a requirement from your member of Congress, not from Take on Wall Street. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/covid-bailout-cant-be-a-gift-to-the-1