Right now Congress is debating drastic cuts to domestic programs that serve the poor and working class. At a time when many Americans are unemployed and underemployed, big Wall Street firms make billions of dollars a year speculating on the market. It was this kind of reckless speculation that created the financial crisis in the first place. Now is the time to ask Wall Street to pay its fair share and the most common sense way of doing so is by taxing financial transactions.

The Financial Transaction Tax -as outlined in the HR 3313- will levy a modest .03% on all financial transactions and will mostly affect the wealthiest corporations that wager millions of dollars a day on market trends. This tax will help guarantee that Wall Street banks share in the sacrifice that so many working class families are being asked to make.

And we're not the only one supporting this idea. This past month, the Vatican issued a statement that explicitly states that a financial transaction tax is an important way to ensure that the financial industry better serves the common good.

So to help make our point clear, we're asking the Speaker of the House and proud Catholic, John Boehner, to heed the advice of the Vatican and support the financial transaction tax. Will you join us in this effort by signing this petition? When we get enough signatures, we'll deliver them to the Speaker's office and we will invite the media to join us.