CODEPINK Holds Overnight Vigil for a People's Bailout on Eve of Second AIG Hearing

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. In the morning, the CODEPINK women will be first in line to
attend the second House Financial Services Committee hearing on AIG at
10 a.m. Tuesday, 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.