(WASHINGTON) – The following is the official statement from Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the Senate’s passage of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill.

“With the passage of the omnibus spending bill by the Senate, we have witnessed the latest attack by corporate interests on working families. Big business and Wall Street have bought and paid for influence and access that has allowed them to continue to enrich corporations at the expense of the middle class.

“This access is inherently destructive, eroding away the very foundation of the democratic process. Instead of elected officials working on behalf of their constituents and fighting for their interests, they push the agenda of the corporate fat cats that keep them in office term after term. 

“If this bill is signed into law, hundreds of thousands of retirees will face an uncertain future and banks will be free to make the same risky investments that helped send our country into a recession.

“We can only hope that President Obama rethinks his present course of action, recognizes the destructive nature of the provisions in this bill and vetoes it when it reaches his desk.

“The individuals that we entrust to protect us and vote in our best interest continue to fail in their duties and break that trust. To them, I offer this word of caution – the same boots that our 1.4 million members put on the ground to help elect them can just as easily help march them out of office.

“Whether in the Senate or House, our members have a long memory and they will recall how their elected representatives voted over this week when they are casting their votes in the future.”