Public Citizen

Campaigns

• Stop Immoral Price Gouging for Life-Saving EpiPen

  *UPDATE: The company’s “solution” in the face of overwhelming public outcry is to offer more coupons. But it has not lowered the price ONE CENT. So keep the pressure up!* Millions of children and adults in the U.S. are at risk of fatal allergic reactions from common occurrences like getting stung by a bee or accidentally consuming peanuts. A pocket-sized medical device called an EpiPen can be a literal life-saver for these folks. But Mylan — the multinational pharmaceutical company that makes the EpiPen — has been steadily jacking up the price. - In 2007, the wholesale price on an EpiPen in the U.S. was $57. - Today, just nine years later, it’s over $300. - Even though each EpiPen contains only a few dollars’ worth of medicine. - Even though a two-pack is just $85 in France. - And even though Mylan, which has a near monopoly in the U.S., has seen its profits from the EpiPen alone skyrocket to $1.2 billion a year. Now, many people who could actually die without an EpiPen can’t afford one! Tell Mylan CEO Heather Bresch to immediately reduce the price of this life-and-death treatment that so many people depend on.

  331,942 of 400,000 Signatures

  Created by Glenn Simpson
• Trump Must Divest from All Business Interests Before Taking Office

  As the owner of numerous companies spanning the entire globe, Donald Trump could take office with the most blatant conflicts of interest in the history of American politics. The scope of Trump’s empire means that his businesses are impacted by a wide range of government policies, including taxes, consumer protection, civil justice, financial regulation, employee rights, foreign policy, and much more. Trump has proposed transferring control to a misnamed “blind trust” under the direction of his children. That’s more like an all-seeing trust! It would do nothing to eliminate the staggering conflicts of interest. The American people need to know that Trump is not running the government to benefit his own corporate empire.

  27,776 of 30,000 Signatures

  Created by Glenn Simpson
• President Obama: Issue an Executive Order to Fight Money in Politics

  President Obama was right in his State of the Union address: The secret billionaire and big business "dark money" enabled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United ruling is pulling "our politics into the gutter." And he can do something about it right now by issuing an executive order requiring government contractors to disclose their political spending. He doesn't even need agreement from the Boehner-McConnell Congress. That way, We the People will know which corporations are spending how much either backing politicians who may help them get lucrative government business that our tax dollars pay for or attacking politicians who do not. While we continue building nationwide grassroots momentum for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and working on other remedies to the plague of money in politics, we need President Obama to take this one simple step right now that will at least shed light on the political influence of corporations that get taxpayer-funded business from the federal government.

  108,399 of 200,000 Signatures

  Created by Glenn Simpson, Public Citizen
• Will Hillary Clinton Help Jam the Revolving Door between Wall Street and Federal Agencies that Re...

  It’s known as the “revolving door.” Many government officials responsible for overseeing Wall Street are — wait for it — former Wall Street executives. It turns out the Big Banks even give big bonuses to executives who go slumming in government. Of course, these ex-executives often seem more interested in staying cozy with their former employers (who they’ll probably go back to work for anyway) than enforcing the law. Meanwhile, regulators who didn’t come from Wall Street in the first place are constantly wooed by the prospect of lucrative job offers to leave public service and go to work for the financial institutions they’re supposed to be keeping an eye on. Thankfully, a bill recently introduced in Congress — the Financial Services Conflict of Interest Act — would jam the revolving door between Wall Street and federal regulators. This commonsense package of ethics reforms would: - Prevent new agency officials from taking official actions that directly benefit their former employers. - Prohibit Wall Street firms from offering “golden parachutes” to executives who take government positions. - Restrict former regulators from lobbying for two years. - Require departing bank examiners to wait at least two years before taking a job with any bank they oversaw. Senator Elizabeth Warren noted that the Financial Services Conflict of Interest Act is “a bill any presidential candidate should be able to cheer for.” And, in fact, Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have both already endorsed the measure. Hillary Clinton should make it clear that she supports this much-needed legislation, too.

  11,932 of 15,000 Signatures

  Created by Glenn
• AT&T and Novartis: Disclose Your Agreements with Trump Attorney Michael Cohen

  AT&T and the giant pharmaceutical corporation Novartis have admitted paying more than $1 million to the shell company controlled by Trump attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen. The payments went to the same shell company Cohen used to make hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. The best-case story for the companies is that they were incredibly stupid and willing to enter into a sleazy deal that failed. The worst-case scenarios raise questions about whether the funds sent to the shell company were outright bribes. There's only one way to find out: They must disclose their legal agreements so we can know what services they hoped to obtain from Cohen's operation, and what services were in fact provided.

  30,724 of 35,000 Signatures

  Created by Public Citizen
• Support Bipartisan Legislation to Protect the Mueller Investigation

  On at least two occasions, President Trump has threatened to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 election and related matters. Earlier this week, after the FBI obtained and executed a warrant to search the office and premises of Michael Cohen — Trump’s personal lawyer — Trump had a public tantrum in which he called the investigation “an attack on our country” and mused about firing Mueller. Amidst all the drama, one thing is certain: The President cannot be permitted to fire an independent investigator simply because the investigator is looking into allegations of misconduct by the president himself, or those close to him. That’s the pathway to authoritarian rule. The bipartisan Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act would protect Mueller’s investigation and enable him to follow the evidence wherever it leads.

  33,337 of 35,000 Signatures

  Created by Courtney Fuller
• Hey Facebook, stop exploiting children to generate ad revenue!

  When you “like” a business, Facebook may subsequently display your name and photo along with ads from that business, implying your endorsement of the company and its products. And fine print in Facebook’s terms of service results in many underage users unwittingly — and without parental consent — getting caught up in this marketing scheme. Facebook's exploitation of minors in its advertising is unethical and, in seven states, illegal. Tell Facebook to respect the privacy of its underage users and stop exploiting them to boost its advertising revenue.

  272 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Glenn Simpson
• 

  Urge Biden to Reverse Trump’s Deadly Obstruction of Global COVID-19 Vaccines

  Millions of people around the world may not get COVID-19 vaccines until as late as 2024--unless President Biden reverses the Trump administration’s deadly Big Pharma boondoggle at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

  1,421 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Ryan Harvey
• Virginia: Tell Your Senators to Pass the Constitutional Amendment Overturning the Democracy-Killi...

  Corporations are not people. Writing a check is not speech. And the Founding Fathers never intended the First Amendment to permit the ultra-wealthy and giant corporations to take over our elections. This summer, the Senate will vote on a constitutional amendment to overturn 'Citizens United' and 'McCutcheon' -- the overreaching Supreme Court rulings that allow billionaires and Big Business to spend virtually as much money as they want, much of it undisclosed, trying to install candidates of their choosing in office. With these disastrous rulings, the Supreme Court shredded long-standing, commonsense policies that defend our democratic ideals from a plutocratic invasion. And it made a mockery of First Amendment protections that were meant for actual, everyday Americans. The only way we can preserve our democracy and prevent turning the First Amendment upside down is by passing a constitutional amendment that restores the ability of We the People to do something about the problem of money in politics. Make sure your senators know that you are counting on them to take a stand for democracy when they vote this summer.

  126 of 200 Signatures

  Created by Glenn Simpson
• Tell Google to Quit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

  Here’s what Google Chairman Eric Schmidt recently told NPR’s Diane Rehm: “Everyone understands climate change is occurring. And the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place. And so we should not be aligned with such people. They're just literally lying.” Schmidt was talking about Google’s better-late-than-never decision to disassociate from the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a far-right group that pushes polices benefitting dirty energy industries and undermining progress on climate change. But Google is still a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which – as the leading shill in Washington, D.C., for Big Business – does even more than ALEC to perpetuate polluters’ profits while humanity’s very survival is threatened by irrefutable climate change. If Google “should not be aligned with” ALEC, it should not be aligned with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce either.

  34 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Glenn