Lobbying

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

November 21, 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.

Ajit Pai, Telecom Lobbyists Are Now Coordinating Their Lies In Perfect Symmetry

October 24, 2018 By Karl Bode, Techdirt.com Educate! Corruption, FCC, Internet, Lobbying, Net Neutrality, Telecommunications

So we've made it pretty clear by now that the FCC's entire justification for repealing net neutrality was based entirely on fluff and lobbyist nonsense. But because the Administrative Procedure Act requires that regulators actually provide hard data to justify massive reversals in policy, both the Ajit Pai FCC and his BFFs at Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T have clung tightly to one, completely false claim: that net neutrality harmed network investment. But as we've stated countless times, that's simply not true. That's not an opinion, it's based on SEC filings, earnings reports, and the on-the-record statements of nearly a dozen telecom industry CEOs. That undeniable fact hasn't really bothered the folks at US Telecom, the telecom industry's biggest lobbying and policy organization.

Police Union Is Lobbying To Expand Powers To Tase People Who Don’t Pose A Threat

May 21, 2018 By Michael Arria, Inthesetimes.com Educate! Lobbying, Police, Police violence, State Violence

The San Francisco Police Officers Association is aggressively pushing a ballot measure that would allow police to use tasers on members of the public even if they aren't violently resisting. If passed, the city’s police officers would be able to electrocute people who pose no physical threat or resist arrest as a result of mental illness. Last November, San Francisco’s Police Commission approved tasers for the city’s police. This March, it finalized a policy for how those tasers should be used. That policy, which is backed by Police Chief Bill Scott and San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell, requires police to implement de-escalation tactics before using their tasers. However, the San Francisco Police Officers Association, with a membership of roughly 2,200, believes that these criteria are too narrow.

DCCC Takes Money From Insurance Lobbyist As They Oppose Single Payer

May 10, 2018 By Alex Kotch, Tytnetwork.com Educate! Congress, Electoral Politics, health insurance industry, Lobbying, Single payer health care

In April 2017, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) wanted to find out the best way for its candidates to address the topic of health care, so it hired two research firms to conduct internal polling focused on 52 battleground districts expected to be close races in 2018. Stan Greenberg, a pollster and founding partner with Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQR), presented his findings at the offices of the Democratic National Committee and suggested that Democratic candidates should focus on the flaws of Republican plans and offer “Proactive Solutions (only if asked),” as The Intercept reported. While “single-payer” never made it into the proposed talking points compiled in its memo, GQR listed numerous “likely Republican lines of attack” against Democratic House candidates over Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill...

It’s Time For AIPAC To Register As A Foreign Agent – The Forward

March 8, 2018 M.J. Rosenberg, Informationclearinghouse.info Strategize! AIPAC, Israel, Lobbying

AIPAC is one of the leading forces behind the Israel lobby, joined in recent years by the ascending Christians United for Israel. Other Jewish “pro-Israel” organizations are niche affairs, representing particular constituencies on the left or right. But it’s AIPAC that is the registered lobby on Capitol Hill, and it is AIPAC whose clout on matters relating to Israel exceeds the clout of the National Rifle Association on matters related to guns; while the NRA’s sway is almost entirely over Republicans, AIPAC has historically drawn its support from both parties. Is there any place but AIPAC that not only gets Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi in the same room, but also gets to hear them in near total agreement? But there’s something strange, too, about AIPAC.

West Virginia Gas Companies Wined And Dined Lawmakers Before Scoring Favorable Fracking Legislation

March 7, 2018 By Alex Kotch, Desmogblog.com Educate! Fracking, Gas, Legislation, Lobbying, West Virginia

A country club luncheon. A $130 steak dinner. A whiskey tasting. Dinner at an historic neo-Georgian mansion. These are just a few examples of the many occasions last year when oil and gas lobbyists wined and dined West Virginia state lawmakers on key committees that craft fossil fuel legislation. Lobbyists representing industry players including natural gas giant EQT, Antero Resources, TransCanada, and multiple oil and gas trade associations wooed state lawmakers with thousands of dollars’ worth of food and drink throughout 2017, according to lobbying records obtained by DeSmog. In early 2018, just months after some of these fancy gatherings took place, most oil and gas companies got something they wanted: A “co-tenancy” bill, HB 4268, that allows these companies to drill for natural gas on private land with the consent of only 75 percent of the landowners.

Gun Lobby Meets Match With Economic Protests

February 26, 2018 Rob Cox, Reuters.com Resist! Economics, Gun Control, Lobbying, Protests

NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) - The day before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, he delivered a speech widely remembered for its closing passage, when the reverend said he was unafraid to die because he had “been to the mountaintop.” Few seem to recall an earlier part of his oration where King exhorted African-Americans to use their purchasing power, and specifically boycott Coca-Cola, Wonder Bread and Sealtest milk. Many successful civil-rights movements have adopted some type of economic protest. Consider Gandhi’s 24-day march from an ashram near Ahmedabad to the coastal town of Dandi to harvest sea salt in an act of nonviolent resistance against the salt monopoly imposed by India’s British colonizers.

Is Big Food’s Lobbying Arm On The Brink Of Extinction?

December 12, 2017 Katherine Paul, organicconsumers.org Educate! Food and Agriculture, GMOs, Labeling, Lobbying

At the height of the GMO labeling battle, we not-so-fondly referred to the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) as “Monsanto’s Evil Twin.” Last week, a former GMA executive told Politico that to him, the food industry lobbying group seems like “the dinosaur waiting to die.” For consumers who blame the GMA for engineering the defeat of four state ballot initiatives that would have required labels on genetically engineered foods, then teaming up with Monsanto and some Big Organic brands to ram through federal legislation that stripped states of the right to pass GMO labeling laws, visions of the GMA drawing its last bullying breath are accompanied by the sweet taste of karma. Consumers can take satisfaction in the fact that they’ve played a role in what some say is the diminishing power of the GMA over Washington policy. For many, gratification—even the delayed variety—is worth stirring up trouble in the marketplace if it results in brands cleaning up their acts on issues of health, transparency and accountability. #GMAExit—a ‘burgeoning trend’? On Friday, Dec. 1, Mars, Inc., the sixth-largest privately held food company in the U.S., confirmed reports it will exit the GMA. Mars is the fourth Big Food company to exit GMA this year. The first was Campbell Soup Co., which said in July that it wouldn’t renew its membership. Campbell CEO Denise Morrison said at the time that Campbell’s had found itself “at odds with some of [GMA’s] positions.”

Fossil Fuel Donors Shaped Anti-Climate Agenda Of Congressional Committee

December 7, 2017 Marianne Lavelle and David Hasemyer, insideclimatenews.org Educate! Climate Change, Congress, Fossil Fuels, Lobbying

By Marianne Lavelle and David Hasemyer for Inside Climate News - FREDERICKSBURG, Texas—It's midway through fall, and cold has yet to settle over the Eckhardt family orchard. So, Diane Eckhardt waits with rising apprehension. Cold is the switch that triggers the growing sequence that by summer has limbs sagging with ripe, juicy peaches. The reliable chill season in Texas Hill Country allowed Eckhardt's grandfather, Otto, to start the family business here in the 1930s. But last year, with temperatures the warmest since 1939, Eckhardt's trees produced just 10 percent of their usual yield. And the year before, warm weather reduced production between 60 and 70 percent. Now, Eckhardt worries not only about the next crop, but about the future of a business she hopes will be passed on to her niece and nephews. "We know climate change is happening," she said. But while the Eckhardts face that certainty, their congressman sows uncertainty, casting doubt on the consensus science that greenhouse gases are the dominant cause of rising global temperatures, and opposing government action to curb them. Sixteen-term Republican Lamar Smith has used his power as chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee for the past five years to do battle on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. Embracing the arguments of a small group of climate contrarians, Smith acknowledges that warming is happening but says more research is needed to determine the amount and causes, and whether it does more good than harm.

People Power Can Still Stop The Tax Theft, Here’s How

December 5, 2017 Taylor Lincoln, citizenvox.org Educate! Lobbying, Tax Reform, Taxes

By Taylor Lincoln for Citizen Vox - A total of 6,243 lobbyists have been listed on lobbying disclosure forms as working on issues involving the word “tax” in 2017. That equals 57 percent of the lobbyists who have reported any lobbying activity in 2017 and is equivalent to more than 11 lobbyists for every member of Congress. Each of the 20 organizations hiring the most lobbyists on tax issues reported working on “tax reform” specifically, meaning their lobbying was relevant to the ongoing debate on overhauling the tax code. Corporate tax rates, repatriation of corporate profits, intra-organizational transfers of assets, deductibility of interest, and depreciation rules were among frequently listed topics among the organizations. Twenty corporations and trade associations have hired at least 50 lobbyists apiece. The organization hiring the most lobbyists to work on tax issues was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (100). The Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of the nation’s largest corporations, deployed 51 lobbyists. Twenty-six industry sectors have hired at least 150 lobbyists each to work on tax issues, led by pharmaceuticals (653) and insurance (600). Five corporations have hired at least 15 separate lobbying firms in additional to their in-house lobbyists to work for them on tax issues so far in 2017: Comcast Corp. (23 firms), Anheuser-Busch (19), Verizon Communications, (17), Microsoft (16) and Altria Group (15).

Lobbying To Undermine Opponents Of Yemen War

November 25, 2017 Alex Emmons, theintercept.com Educate! Lobbying, Wars and Militarism, Yemen

By Alex Emmons for The Intercept - STARVING CHILDREN WITH haunting eyes and emaciated bodies. Bombed-out hospitals and homes. A cholera epidemic that is the largest and fastest-spreading in modern history. These scenes have sparked outrage and a flurry of denunciations of the U.S.-backed war in Yemen, which is led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. But that’s not to say the war has no defenders in the United States. In fact, a public relations consultant and former U.S. diplomat enlisted by the UAE has worked to discredit U.S.-based groups raising awareness of atrocities in Yemen. Hagar Chemali previously served as a top spokesperson for Samantha Power, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Now, she is paid six figures to shape the debate about the war at the U.N., including by discrediting NGOs that advance evidence of human rights violations in Yemen, according to public disclosures and emails obtained by The Intercept. Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched a military intervention in March 2015 against the Houthi rebels, who are allied with former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and backed by Iran. The Saudi-led coalition, which aims to reinstate ousted president Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, blockaded the country and has indiscriminately bombed civilian centers such as markets, hospitals, and children’s schools. Last week, Power weighed in on the conflict, condemning American support for the coalition. But during her time at the U.N., Power maintained a code of silence on what U.S. allies were doing in Yemen. She is now criticizing a Trump administration policy that is largely a continuation of her former boss’s approach.

Northam Hid Dominion Execs & Lobbyists In Transition Team

November 21, 2017 Itai Vardi, desmogblog.com Educate! Dominion, Electoral Politics, Lobbying, Money in Politics, Virginia

By Itai Vardi for Desmog Blog - Virginia’s Democratic governor-elect, Ralph Northam, announced his transition committee this week. In a press release, his office listed 85 individuals who will comprise the “bipartisan” committee, representing Virginians “from across the Commonwealth who will join him over the course of the next two months to lay the groundwork for a successful administration.” But there is something odd about the list of people and their affiliations, or lack thereof. Dominion Energy — the state’s most powerful corporate player who will need certifications from the Northam administration for its pivotal Atlantic Coast pipeline — doesn’t appear once on the list. If approved by the state’s regulatory bodies, the mammoth 550-mile interstate pipeline is planned to transport natural gas from West Virginia, through Virginia, and into North Carolina. Yet a closer look at the people on the transition team reveals that some have been presented in a selective way that fails to mention their various affiliations with Dominion. The list includes Carlos Brown, who is presented as “Member, Commonwealth Transportation Board.” But Brown has another job. He’s Vice President and General Counsel at Dominion Energy. Next, the list includes Eva Hardy, who is presented as “Former Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources.” Yet Hardy served in that capacity between 1986 and 1990. Afterwards she worked as a longtime Dominion executive, most recently as a vice president. Though not currently an official company executive, Dominion still retains Hardy as a lobbyist.

Bezos Cashes In On Lobbying Washington With Amazon’s $53 Billion Deal

November 20, 2017 Whitney Webb, mintpressnews.com Educate! Amazon, Lobbying, Pentagon

By Whitney Webb for The Mint Press News - The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2018, in addition to including passages involving regime change in Venezuela and exorbitant expenditures on the maintenance and expansion of American empire, continues to surprise: its latest draft includes a measure that will cement a multi-billion dollar deal between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. mega-corporation Amazon, run by the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos. If the NDAA is approved in its current form, which is highly likely according to experts, Bezos’ Amazon sets to gain $53 billion in revenue by becoming the chief supplier of an array of goods to the Department of Defense. The deal is laid out in a section titled “Procurement Through Commercial E-Commerce Portals,” in which the DOD would be required to purchase commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products — such as office supplies — from “e-commerce portals” dominated by Amazon. Though congressmen — including the NDAA’s author, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) — have asserted that there will be healthy “competition” among such portals, Amazon’s massive advantages in these markets are clear, particularly given how Amazon often overtakes markets on its own “free market” platform by edging out third-party vendors. In addition, the Coalition for Government Procurement (CGP) stated in a memo issued last month that only one or two companies would be able to participate, given the parameters put forth by the current version of the bill. Several industry sources cited by Bloomberg stated that Amazon tops that very short list.

Israel Lobby Is Slowly Being Dragged Into The Light

November 15, 2017 Jonathan Cook, counterpunch.org Educate! Israel, Lobbying

By Jonathan Cook for Counter Punch - The scandal surrounding Priti Patel, who was forced to resign as Britain’s international aid minister last week after secret meetings with Israeli officials during a “family holiday”, offers a small, opaque window on the UK’s powerful Israel lobby. Patel’s off-the-books meetings with 12 Israelis, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were organised by a British lobbyist in violation of government rules requiring careful documentation of official meetings. That is to prevent conflicts of interest and illicit lobbying by foreign powers. Government protocol was flouted again when Patel headed to the Golan Heights, occupied Syrian territory, escorted by the Israeli army. There she was shown an Israeli military field hospital that patches up Syrians, including Al Qaeda-affiliated fighters, wounded in Syria’s civil war. Afterwards, Patel pressed for the Israeli army, one of the most powerful in the world, to receive a chunk of Britain’s overseas aid. Meanwhile, she has sought to cut aid to the Palestinians, including to vital projects in Gaza. A clue as to how she reached such absurd “humanitarian” priorities is provided in the figure of Stuart Polak, mentor on her Israel “holiday”. The honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel, Lord Polak has recruited four-fifths of Conservative MPs, and almost every government minister, to a group whose explicit goal is to advance Israeli interests in Britain.

Russia Meddling ‘Expert’ Lobbying U.S. Gov To ‘Quell Information Rebellions’

November 14, 2017 Max Blumenthal, alternet.org Educate! Lobbying, Propaganda, Russia

By Max Blumenthal for AlterNet - Nearly a year after the presidential election, the scandal over accusations of Russian political interference in the 2016 election has gone beyond Donald Trump and reached into the nebulous world of online media. On November 1, Congress held hearings on “Extremist Content and Russian Disinformation Online.” The proceedings saw executives from Facebook, Twitter and Youtube subjected to tongue-lashings from lawmakers like Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who howled about Russian online trolls “spread[ing] stories about abuse of black Americans by law enforcement.” In perhaps the most chilling moment of the hearings, and the most overlooked, Clint Watts, a former U.S. Army officer who had branded himself an expert on Russian meddling, appeared before a nearly empty Senate chamber. Watts conjured up a stark landscape of American carnage, with shadowy Russian operatives stage managing the chaos. “Civil wars don’t start with gunshots, they start with words,” he proclaimed. “America’s war with itself has already begun. We all must act now on the social media battlefield to quell information rebellions that can quickly lead to violent confrontations and easily transform us into the Divided States of America.” Next, Watts suggested a government-imposed campaign of media censorship: “Stopping the false information artillery barrage landing on social media users comes only when those outlets distributing bogus stories are silenced: silence the guns and the barrage will end.”

«1 2 3 »

Daily movement news and resources