Showdown on K Street

Yesterday, AFJ and other allies proudly joined Jobs with Justice, National People's Action, SEIU, and the AFL-CIO at Showdown on K Street.

With the Senate edging closer and closer to finalizing a bill to reform the financial industry, activists joined at McPherson Square before stopping traffic to take back K Street, Washington’s historical center of lobbyist activity.

The Senate will soon vote on important amendments both good and bad. Some attempt to weaken regulation of derivatives and swaps, both key causes of the financial meltdown crippling 6.7 million long-term unemployed Americans. Others would bar banks from gambling with government insured deposits, reduce the conflicts of interest seen at Goldman Sachs, or separate commercial and investment banking. Undeterred by cold temperatures and steady rain, thousands of activists from around the country arrived to unite in one message to Wall Street and Congress: put working, everyday Americans before corporate interests.