ONTD Political

The source is the DCC, but they have links for every assertion and I couldn't find a more news-ish link that brought it all together.

MEET THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS: NEW CHAIRS PUT CORPORATE SPECIAL INTERESTS BEFORE MIDDLE CLASS JOBS


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Who Will Lead the 112th Congress? House Republicans have gone out of their way to select key Committee Chairs whose records bring smiles and high fives from the K-Street Special Interests and big Wall Street Banks but have, time and again, left middle class job creation out in the cold. The leader of their pack to sell out the middle class is none other than Spencer “Big Bank” Bachus who has already made clear he’s ready to fight for corporate special interests instead of middle class jobs.

“Take one good look at the people Republicans are putting in charge and it becomes completely clear that the agenda of corporate special interests has found a new home – the House Republican majority,” said Jesse Ferguson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “And the interests of the middle class are going to be left standing at the curb.”



House Republican Committee Chairs: Doing the Business of Big Corporations

House Financial Services: Big Bank Bachus. The incoming Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Spencer Bachus, recently told his local newspaper he believes it is Congress’s obligation to “serve the banks.” It’s no surprise considering House Republicans selected a man who is Wall Street’s favorite – not only has he accepted $1 million in campaign contributions from Wall Street but he was the Republican chief negotiator of the Tea Party-hated Troubled Assets Relief Program bailouts. An Associated Press investigation even showed that Bachus made dozens of personal stock trades, saying they were “unusual for a leading member of Congress, particularly one with such a key market role.” [Associated Press, 9/23/08; DCCC, 12/13/10, 12/08/10; MSNBC, 12/13/10]

Ways and Means: Tax Writing Dave Camp and His Tax Loopholes. House Republicans appointed Representative Dave Camp Chair of the Ways and Means Committee that writes tax policy, despite his record of voting to protect loopholes that reward big corporations for shipping American jobs overseas. The unemployment rate in Camp’s home state is 12.8 percent, higher than the national average. [DCCC, 12/08/10]

Appropriations Committee: Prince of Pork Hal Rogers. The appointment of a man known as “The Prince of Pork” by his hometown newspaper because of he sought 135 earmarks at a cost of $246 million in the past two years alone, has sparked national outcry and public rebuke. Rogers is responsible for “the tiny airport that received $17 million in federal dollars but has so little traffic that the last commercial airline pulled out in February. And then there’s the Hal Rogers Parkway, which was formerly known as the Daniel Boone Parkway before being renaming for Kentucky’s Prince of Pork.” He was even named Porker of the Month by Citizens Against Government Waste for his pattern of special interest earmarks. [ABC News, 12/6/10; CAGW, August 2010; DCCC, 12/8/10; 12/9/10]

Energy and Commerce: Fred Upton’s Energy and Commerce Lobbyist Committee. Upton hired special interest lobbyists to write energy and commerce policy for his new committee. [POLITICO, 12/24/10; USA Today, 12/14/10]

Budget: Paul Ryan Proposes Wall Street’s Favorite Budget – Sells out the Middle Class. Ryan is the author of a controversial budget that would eliminate income taxes on corporations and investments earned on Wall Street while raising “taxes for most middle-income families, privatize a substantial portion of Social Security, eliminate the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance, end traditional Medicare and most of Medicaid, and terminate the Children’s Health Insurance Program.” [CBPP, 7/7/2010]

Agriculture: Frank Lucas Loves His Agribusiness Interests. Lucas has taken millions from the Agribusiness interests that he’ll now oversee and regulate as Chairman. According to Open Secrets, Lucas has taken $1,218,894 from agribusiness interests since 1994, including more than $365,000 in 2010. [OpenSecrets.org, accessed 12/8/10]

Armed Services: Buck McKeon Takes Every Buck He Can from the Defense Industry. McKeon has received $778,100 in contributions from the defense industry. He has taken $415,150 from defense aerospace, $203,200 from miscellaneous defense, and $159,750 from defense electronics. [opensecrets.org, accessed 12/08/10]

Education and Labor: John Kline Protects Wall Street Banks Not Student Loan Debt. Kline was an early opponent of a reform to the student loan business that bypasses “the lenders [and] saves taxpayers billions of dollars in subsidies.” [The Hill, 9/14/09; CNBC, 12/21/10]

Natural Resources: Doc Hastings Stands for Big Polluters. In what is sure to bring a smile to the face of every corporate special interest and big polluter, in 2009, Hastings received a 0% rating from the League of Conservation Voters. [LCV.com, League of Conservation Voters National Environmental Scorecard]

Oversight and Government Reform: Darrell Issa Fails to Investigate Himself. While he’s poised to take over the oversight committee, on September 29, 2004, Issa donated $5,000 from his campaign fund to the Tom DeLay legal defense trust. DeLay was indicted in September 2005 on conspiracy charges relating to a campaign finance scheme. [Opensecrets.org; Associated Press, 9/28/05]

Small Business: Sam Graves Poses Grave Dangers to Small Businesses. Graves is a cosponsor of the controversial Fair Tax proposal that would implement a 23% national sales tax that would raise and lower. cosponsor of the fair tax that would cut corporate taxes and raise 23% on mid class families. expenses. [Americans for Fair Taxation, “The Fair Tax Act of 2007 – HR 25: Plain English Summary,” fairtax.org, accessed 9/06/10]

Transportation and Infrastructure: John Mica Milks Big Transportation Interests for Campaign Cash. As of 2010, Mica has accepted $1,145,714 from transportation interests. He was named “Porker of the Month” by Citizens Against Government Waste “for his opposition to an earmark ban and defense of earmarks.” [CQ Moneyline, accessed 12/08/10; Citizens Against Government Waste press release, 7/24/08]

Judiciary: Lamar Smith & Tom Delay – Two Pea’s in a Pod. Lamar Smith helped raise money for a Texas political committee associated with Majority Leader Tom DeLay, presenting a possible conflict if the congressional panel investigates DeLay's role in a fund-raising controversy. Smith was listed as a special guest and speaker in 2002 for Texans for a Republican Majority. While investigating DeLay's conduct last year, the House committee deferred — but did not dismiss — a complaint that DeLay, R-Texas, used the same political committee to solicit corporate contributions in violation of state law. [AP, 3/16/05]

Science and Technology: Ralph Hall Warms The Heart of Global Warming Denier Companies. Hall, the new Chairman of the committee responsible for Science is known to have “serious questions” about the science that has conclusively proven manmade greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming despite the protests of the nations biggest polluters. [Politico, 11/17/10]

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