Subject: Telepresser on dirty omnibus riders at 2 p.m. today

For Immediate Release:

March 1, 2018

Contact: David Rosen, drosen@citizen.org, (202) 588-7742

MEDIA INVITATION from the CLEAN BUDGET COALITION

Leahy, Lowey, Schakowsky, Coalition Leaders Call for a Clean Omnibus Package That Excludes Dirty Riders

WHAT: With the March 23 funding deadline just three weeks away, the Clean Budget Coalition will host a telephone press conference this afternoon featuring members of Congress and coalition leaders. Speakers will call for a clean omnibus appropriations package with no corporate or ideological riders that would harm the public and will explain the harms of these measures. At the conclusion of the call, speakers will take questions from the press.

Of particular concern this year is a perennial rider that has prevented scientific research into gun violence at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This research could help protect toddlers from accidentally firing a weapon, reduce gun-related suicides and help evaluate the effectiveness of public education, background checks and other commonsense measures to reduce needless injuries and deaths.

Among the hundreds of other dirty riders that must be removed from the funding package are measures that would do lasting harm to our campaign finance system, our environment, women’s health, civil rights, worker health and safety, immigrant communities and Wall Street reforms that protect consumers and our economy. See this recent memo for more details.

WHEN: 2 p.m. EDT, Thursday, March 1

WHO: U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)

U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.)

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsy (D-Ill.)

Robert Weissman, president, Public Citizen (moderator)

Trip Van Noppen, president, Earthjustice

Mike Brune, executive director, Sierra Club

Dana Singiser, vice president of public policy, Planned Parenthood

Seema Nanda, vice president and chief operating officer, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Andrew Rosenberg, Center for Science and Democracy director, Union of Concerned Scientists

Lisa Donner, executive director, Americans for Financial Reform

CALL-IN: (800) 875-3456, passcode: WEIS72820

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