FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      March 23, 2009    CONTACT
Jean Stevens, national media coordinator, 508-769-2138
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK co-founder, 415-235-6517

WHAT: CODEPINK to camp/vigil outside House building, attend second AIG hearing
WHEN: MIDNIGHT TONIGHT (camp-out/vigil) through 10 a.m. March 24 (hearing)
WHERE: Outside Rayburn House Office Building (camp-out/vigil); 2128 Rayburn House Office Building (hearing), Washington

WASHINGTON -- The "ladies in pink" from last week's AIG hearing will be holding an overnight vigil TONIGHT outside the Rayburn Office Building here, with a pink bed full of weary taxpayers who are tired of bailing out Wall Street. At 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, the CODEPINK women will be first in line to attend the second House Financial Services Committee hearing on AIG, representing the public outrage over the ongoing bailout of Wall Street over Main Street, and Treasury Secretary Geithner’s mismanagement of the economic crisis. Some will be dressed as fat-cat bankers getting bonuses for wrecking the economy; others will be dressed as taxpayers who have literally “lost their shirts.”

“We, the American public, are sick and tired of bailing out the ones who got us into this mess, and wasting billions more on war," said Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK co-founder. "We should take over the banks and stop the wars. We should put our funds into health care, housing, green jobs and education, not bailouts and bombs.”

At the first AIG hearing March 18 here, a handful of CODEPINK women sat behind AIG CEO Edward Liddy, holding signs with messages including “Give Our Money Back," "Fire Geithner" and "AIG (arrow) JAIL." (Read this Los Angeles Times story describing their presence at the hearing here).

The six women, who arrived at 5 a.m. to get seats at the hearing, said they meant to send the message that Congress must hold the bankers accountable for bringing down the American financial system, that it must no longer bail them out with taxpayer money, and that it must stop swindling Americans by draining their pockets on two major wars. They also called for the firing of Treasury Secretary Geithner.

“Geithner is too close to Wall Street to look at this financial crisis through the eyes of Main Street," Benjamin said. "We need people in charge who will stop paying ‘cash for trash’, who will stop socializing losses and privatizing profits. We need to take over the banks and bailout the taxpayers.”

For more information and interviews, please call Medea Benjamin at 415-235-6517.