Lobbying

The Koch Network Is Killing Rail Safety

March 5, 2024 Freddy Brewster, The Lever. Educate! Congress, East Palestine, Koch, Lobbying, Ohio, Railroads, Railway Safety Act

One year after a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, inspired bipartisan legislation that would have made the nation’s railways safer for everyone, the bill has been all but killed — largely thanks to a familiar conservative foe: the Koch network. Koch Industries, the parent company of various petrochemical subsidiaries run for decades by Charles Koch and his now-deceased brother David, spent nearly $8 million in the past year lobbying on the legislation and other issues, as well as donated $1.4 million to Republican lawmakers who helped stall the legislation. The effort was part of nearly $200 million the conglomerate has spent in the past decade to persuade lawmakers and regulators to block railway safety legislation and other measures — including reforms that could have helped avoid the East Palestine disaster.

Deconstructing H.R. 3202: Israel’s Persistent Role In Sanctioning Syria

February 23, 2024 Hekmat Aboukhater, MintPress News. Educate! Caesar Act, Congress, Israel, Israeli Lobby, Lobbying, Sanctions, Syria, US Imperialism

On February 13, the U.S. House of Representatives deliberated on Resolution 3202, the “Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act of 2023.” The following day, the House passed the bill with a 389 to 32 bipartisan majority. Now, the bill moves on to the Senate, where it will most likely pass with similar bipartisan support and a ringing endorsement from President Biden once it reaches his desk. The bill was pushed with a veneer of Syrian support represented by the advocacy of the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) and the Syrian American Council (SAC) – Syrian opposition groups in the U.S. While its aims seem, at face value, to focus on humanitarian issues and a quest for accountability, the reality is much more complicated.

Israel Lobby In USA

November 19, 2023 Mazin Qumsiyeh, Popular Resistance. Educate! History, Israel, Lobbying, Palestine, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism, Zionism

AIPAC has mobilized its vast resources to attack the few voices in Congress that piut US interests ahead of Israeli Interests (see for example https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/11/israel-ads-attack-rashida-tlaib-us-politicians). So what is AIPAC and how was it founded and why? There is another and a bit more moderate pro-Israel lobby called J Street. I will not cover the differences here (they both do not support a ceasefire while 120 countries do). There are also hundreds of pro-Israel organizations spending hundreds of millions to ensure the media and the officials walk lockstep with the Israeli government.

Mapped: Deep Ties Between Big Ag And Europe’s Right-Wing Politicians

October 19, 2023 Clare Carlile, DeSmog. Educate! Big Ag, Europe, European Parliament, Lobbying

Striding out on alpine hikes, mingling at rooftop soirées and lending office space free of charge – these are just some of the ways Big Ag has sought to win over influential EU lawmakers on critical green reforms in recent years. These relationship-building activities have helped to forge a powerful alliance in Brussels between select politicians from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and those with a commercial interest in slowing moves to more nature-friendly farming: pesticide manufacturers and farming unions linked to industry. A major investigation published earlier this month by DeSmog and Politico revealed the high volume of meetings held by six key EPP parliamentarians.

Exxon’s Senate Puppets

July 8, 2021 George Ochenski, Counterpunch. Educate! Exxon Mobil, Lobbying, Oil and Gas, Senate

Montana is a very long ways from the Senate chambers in Washington, D.C. Yet, like every other state, we send two senators to represent us in what used to be called “the greatest deliberative body on earth.” We are continually flooded with self-congratulatory press releases promising they’re “fighting for Montana.” But a sad reality was revealed in last week’s bombshell news that Montana’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Republican U.S. Steve Daines were named by Keith McCoy, Exxon’s senior director of federal relations in Washington, as two of 11 senators who he says are “crucial” to ExxonMobil. In truth, it appears our senators are actually “fighting” for the oil and gas industry, not the 1 million Montanans counting on them for Senate representation.

Disinformation Campaigns Target State Climate Initiatives

June 9, 2021 Leanna First-Arai, Truthout. Educate! climate crisis, Lobbying, Propaganda, Right wing politics

Right-wing groups have relied on disinformation and economic alarmism to promote the fossil fuel industry’s agenda for decades, advocates say. For example, in 2015, a multimillion-dollar PR campaign by a front group for the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) surfaced in California when lawmakers were getting close to passing the state’s Clean Energy and Pollution Act. The Union of Concerned Scientists’ Adrienne Alvord described the WSPA radio spots and glossy mailers calling on Californians to “stop the hidden gas tax” as “one of the most extreme examples of fossil fuel-interest misinformation I’ve ever seen.” Now, efforts have arisen in New York state to quash what would be the most progressive state-level climate jobs bill in the U.S.

Lobbying Politicians Is Holding Back The Climate Movement

April 23, 2021 Alex James, ROAR Magazine. Strategize! climate crisis, Lobbying, nonprofit industrial complex

In early January, Labour leader Keir Starmer tweeted about his commitment to tackling the climate emergency, sharing an image of him meeting with several climate groups. The screenshot revealed all the Zoom meeting attendees: the Queen’s Council and several other Shadow Cabinet members, alongside figures from all the major wildlife and environmental charities, from Greenpeace to the WWF. The tweet showed a motley crew — a collection of old and pale smiling faces, confident in their ability to tackle the climate crisis. The tweet was quickly ridiculed. Many from the UK Student Climate Network, the group coordinating climate strikes, pointed out the advanced age of the participants, and contrasted this with the Labor leader’s refusal to meet with the student strikers.

How To Make A Gulf Monarchy All-American

April 20, 2021 Ben Freeman, Brian Steiner and Leila Riazi, Tom Dispatch. Educate! Diplomacy, Lobbying, Saudi Arabia

Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S., was on the hot seat. In early March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world, oil prices collapsed and a price war broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia, leaving American oil and gas companies feeling the pain. As oil prices plummeted, Republican senators from oil-producing states turned their ire directly on Saudi Arabia. Forget that civil war in Yemen — what about fossil-fuel profits here at home? To address their concerns, Ambassador Bandar Al-Saud agreed to speak with a group of them in a March 18th conference call — and found herself instantly in the firing line, as senator after senator berated her for the Kingdom’s role in slashing global oil prices.

Law Enforcement Has Quietly Backed Anti-Protest Bills In At Least 8 States

May 28, 2020 Simon David-Cohen and Sarah Lazare, In These Times. Educate! Lobbying, Minnesota, Police abuse, Protests Against Police

Law enforcement in at least eight states—Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Washington and Wyoming—lobbied on behalf of anti-protest bills in 2017 and 2018. The bills ran the gamut from punishing face coverings at protests to increasing penalties for “economic disruption” and highway blockage to criminalizing civil protests that interfere with “critical infrastructure” like oil pipelines. Emboldened by the Trump administration, at least 31 states have considered 62 pieces of anti-protest legislation since November 2016, with at least seven enacted and 31 still pending. The full scope of police support for these bills is not yet known. As in the case of Kroll, police support often takes place in private meetings, far from the public eye.

Corporate Lobbyists Control The Rules At The DNC

March 7, 2020 Donald Shaw, Readsludge.com Educate! Electoral Politics, Lobbying

Two-thirds of DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee members are corporate lobbyists or corporate consultants, including ten at-large DNC members appointed by DNC Chair Tom Perez. Democrats are looking ahead to the second nominating ballot at the July Democratic National Convention, when superdelegates will be allowed to cast votes if no presidential candidate receives a majority of pledged delegates on the first ballot.

Burisma Paid Joe Biden $900,000 For Lobbying – Ukrainian MP

October 10, 2019 Staff, En.interfax.com.ua Educate! Joe Biden, Lobbying, Ukraine

KYIV. Oct 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden received $900,000 for lobbying activities from Burisma Group, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada member Andriy Derkach said citing investigation materials. Derkach publicized documents which, as he said, "describe the mechanism of getting money by Biden Sr." at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine's press center in Kyiv on Wednesday. "This was the transfer of Burisma Group's funds for lobbying activities, as investigators believe, personally to Joe Biden through a lobbying company.

Secretive Fossil Fuel Lobby Group Manipulated UN Climate Programs

April 30, 2019 By Mat Hope and Karen Savage, Truthout.org Educate! Climate Change, Fossil Fuels, Lobbying, United Nations

A fossil fuel-backed industry group was able to influence the process behind the United Nations climate assessments for decades, using lobbyists and industry-funded scientists to manipulate international negotiations, a cache of recently discovered documents reveals. The documents include hundreds of briefings, meeting minutes, notes, and correspondence from the Global Climate Coalition (GCC). They were released Thursday by the Climate Investigations Center in collaboration with DeSmog and Climate Liability News.

Exxon Could Be Next US Corporation To Face EU Lobby Ban

March 24, 2019 Eoin Higgins, Commondreams. Educate! European Union (EU), Lobbying, Monsanto, Oil and Gas

ExxonMobil could soon join Monsanto as one of the only two companies not allowed to lobby European Union lawmakers. The oil giant, one of the world's largest energy companies, was a no-show at a climate change denial hearing in Brussels Thursday, prompting the action. In a statement, ExxonMobil said that it was unable to attend because of "ongoing climate change-related litigation in the U.S." That wasn't good enough for Molly Scott Cato, a Green Party member of the European Parliament. In a statement, Green said a company which had spent millions on climate denial and then ducked responsibility for its actions didn't deserve the right to promote itself in the EU.

Lobbyist Documents Reveal Health Care Industry Battle Plan Against “Medicare For All”

November 24, 2018 Lee Fang and Nick Surgey, Theintercept.com Educate! Health Care, Lobbying, Medicare

NOW THAT THE midterms are finally over, the battle against “Medicare for All” that has been quietly waged throughout the year is poised to take center stage. Internal strategy documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented reveal the strategy that private health care interests plan to use to influence Democratic Party messaging and stymie the momentum toward achieving universal health care coverage. At least 48 incoming freshman lawmakers campaigned on enacting “Medicare for All” or similar efforts to expand access to Medicare. And over the last year, 123 incumbent House Democrats co-sponsored “Medicare for All” legislation — double the number who supported the same bill during the previous legislative session.

Will The New House Democrats Take On The War Lobby?

November 23, 2018 By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies, Codepink.org Educate! Electoral Politics, Lobbying, Wars and Militarism, White House

A new Democratic majority will take charge in the U.S. House of Representatives in January, thanks to a remarkable rebound in public participation in U.S. elections. Based on early data, it appears that over 49% of eligible voters showed up at the polls this year, compared to a 70-year low of 36.4% in the last mid-term in 2014. More than ever before, the Democrats should thank young voters for their success, as 18-39 year olds appear to have voted for them by a two to one margin. An incredible 71.6% of 18-29 year olds voted for Senator Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016. So it should be no surprise that the 2018 “Blue Wave” in the House is the youngest, most diverse and most progressive new class of Democratic House Members in many years...

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