UNITED STATES: GOVERNMENT : POLITICS: CORPORATE POLITICAL ACTIVITIES: Worst Congress Money Can Buy

[David P. Dillard]

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UNITED STATES: GOVERNMENT :

POLITICS: CORPORATE POLITICAL ACTIVITIES:

Worst Congress Money Can Buy

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Worst Congress Money Can Buy

By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship

Friday, Apr 26, 2013 04:05 PM EDT

Salon

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/26/tk_5_partner_13/

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Failed gun control legislation and a fertilizer plant explosion reveal how
poisoned by big money our government is

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If you want to see why the public approval rating of Congress is down in
the sub-arctic range an icy 15 percent by last count all you have to do
is take a quick look at how the House and Senate pay worship at the altar
of corporations, banks and other special interests at the expense of
public aspirations and need.

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Traditionally, political scientists have taught their students that there
are two schools of thought about how a legislator should get the job done.
One is to vote yay or nay on a bill by following the will of his or her
constituency, doing what they say they want. The other is to represent
them as that legislator sees fit, acting in the best interest of the
voters whether they like it or not.

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But our current Congress as cranky and inert as an obnoxious old uncle
who refuses to move from his easy chair never went to either of those
schools. Its members rarely have the voter in mind at all, unless, of
course, that voters a cash-laden heavy hitter with the clout to keep an
incumbent on the leash and comfortably in office.

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How else to explain a Congress that still adamantly refuses to do
anything, despite some 90 percent of the American public being in favor of
background checks for gun purchases and a healthy majority favoring other
gun control measures? Last week, they ignored the pleas of Newtown
families and the siege of violence in Boston and yielded once again to the
fanatical rants of Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Association. In
just the first three months of this year, as it shoved back against the
renewed push for controls, the NRA spent a record $800,000 keeping
congressional members in line.

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And how else to explain why corporate tax breaks have more than doubled in
the last 25 years? Or why the Senate and House recently gutted the STOCK
Act requiring disclosure of financial transactions by White House staff
and members of Congress and their staffs and prohibiting them from insider
trading? It was passed into law and signed by President Obama last year
an election year with great self-congratulation from all involved. But
fears allegedly arose that there might be security risks for some in the
executive branch if their financial business was known. That concern was
examined by the Columbia Journalism Review, which consulted four
cybersecurity experts from leading think tanks and private security
consultancies. Each came to the same conclusion: that Congresss rationale
for scrapping the financial disclosure rules was bogus. Nonetheless, the
House and Senate leapt at the opportunity to eviscerate key sections of
the STOCK Act when almost no one was watching. And the president signed
it.

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snip

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Congress quietly acquiesces as the regulations meant for our safety are
whittled away.

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Twelve members of Congress want to make a bad situation even worse,
sponsoring the industry-backed General Duty Clarification Act; its banal
title hiding that, as reported by Tim Murphy at Mother Jones magazine, The
bill is designed to sap the Environmental Protection Agency of its powers
to regulate safety and security at major chemical sites, as prescribed by
the Clean Air Act.

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We call that the Koch brothers bill, Greenpeace legislative director Rick
Hind says, because the bills sponsor, GOP Rep. Mike Pompeo, represents the
conservative megadonors home city of Wichita, Kansas.

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snip

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A January report from Public Campaign Action Fund, found that, Companies
that lobbied against bringing jobs back to America and ending tax breaks
for offshoring have given McConnell one million dollars to win his
elections and look out for their interests. In other words: dont hold your
breath.

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No wonder the biggest newspaper in his native Kentucky said in a recent
editorial that McConnell has long ceased to serve the state, instead
serving the corporate interests he counts on for contributions and leading
obstruction that continues to plague Congress.

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The complete article may be read at the URL above.

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Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jw...@temple.edu
http://workface.com/e/daviddillard

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