UPDATE 2/19/10:
The rally was a huge success! About 160 supporters turned out to cheer for jobs creation and real health care reform action now, including representatives from the Carpenters, Progressive Dems, College Dems, George Wiley Center, Painters, Laborers, DARE, Unemployed Council, MoveOn.org, AFL-CIO, Senator Reed's Office, Senator Whitehouse's Office, Attorney General Lynch's Office, American Medical Students Association, Brown University Student Labor Alliance, AFSCME, SEIU 1199, Sierra Club, Ocean State Action, OpenDoors, Jobs With Justice, Rhode Island's Future, American Medical Journal, Channel 12, Providence Journal, Pawtucket Times, and Rhode Island citizens. Also present were candidates for statewide offices of General Treasurer, Attorney General, as well as State Representative candidates.

Thanks for all who made it out, and a special thank you to our volunteers who helped prepare for the event.

If you were unable to join us, you can take a look at the footage captured and hosted by Rhode Island's Future. Still photos available on flickr.

ORIGINAL POST:
Mark your calendar for Wednesday, February 17 at 4 pm! We'll be gathering at the Soldiers and Sailors monument in Kennedy Plaza, right across from Providence City Hall.

Join us to call for urgent action from Congress to create more jobs for Rhode Islanders, reduce damaging state budget cuts by sending federal money to the state, and finish the job on health insurance reform.

We can’t solve the economic crisis in Rhode Island or around the country unless Washington helps by creating jobs, covering the uninsured, lowering health care costs, and helping to close state budget gaps.

Join Rhode Islanders, union members, small business owners, and the faith community to call on Congress and the President to act now for:

• ***   The JOBS FOR MAIN STREET Act to help reduce the Rhode Island budget deficit and to extend unemployment and COBRA for unemployed workers,
• *** NATIONAL HEALTH CARE REFORM to control costs, extend coverage to everyone and make sure insurers are treating consumers fairly,
• ***   and the PUT AMERICA TO WORK Act to create jobs for unemployed workers in urban core communities and meet community needs.

Please RSVP to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or sign up on Facebook if we'll be seeing you on Wednesday, right outside City Hall. We encourage you to come bearing posters and decked out in hard hats, white coats, suits or jeans.

Sponsored by:
Ocean State Action, RI Jobs with Justice, RI AFL-CIO, AFSCME Council 94, RI Coalition for the Homeless, RI Building & Construction Trades Council, College Democrats of Rhode Island, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, Doctors For America, Gray Panthers, Laborers Local 271 (LIUNA), American Medical Students Association, RI National Organization for Women, MoveOn.Org, OpenDoors, Open Table of Christ Church, Painters Local 195 (IUPAT), RI Progressive Democrats of America, SEIU 1199 NE, Sierra Club RI, Brown University Student Labor Alliance, RI Unemployed Council.

Volunteer Opportunity
Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 401-463-5368 if you can help call supporters or make signs before the event. Click here for a flyer for the rally.

In a column in this week's Warwick Beacon, OSA Executive Director Peter Asen makes the case clear why we need Congress to pass strong financial regulation and reform, and that we need Senator Jack Reed's leadership to help make it happen.

**Call Senator Jack Reed today at 943-3100 and ask him to keep fighting for financial reform to hold the big banks accountable and stabilize our financial system.**

"President Obama is calling for financial reform, and last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that took steps in the right direction," Asen wrote.

But the financial industry is opposing real change every step of the way. They weakened the House bill in key areas, for example undermining rules to bring the trading of derivatives – key sources of the financial meltdown (and of billions of dollars in profits for the very largest Wall Street banks) – out into the open. The financial services industry spent $344 million on lobbying in the first three quarters of 2009, and they have more than 1,500 lobbyists registered to protect their interests.

Now it’s the U.S. Senate’s turn to act, and the industry is redoubling their efforts to prevent or fatally water down the change we need. Because Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed has a key position on the Senate Banking Committee, he can play a major role in ensuring that the Senate passes strong reform that truly protects consumers and changes the rules of the game for the industry. Senator Reed has made very strong statements in support of a bank tax and a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, but to pass meaningful reform, he will also have to convince some of his colleagues – who seem less inclined to challenge the banks – to take a strong stand.

We need financial reform to rein in the greedy and reckless behavior of big banks on Wall Street that cost millions of jobs, and to crack down on abuses committed by credit card companies and the mortgage lending industry. These reforms will strengthen our financial system and will help to prevent another financial crisis.