Citizens' Daily Lobby

Rep. Alan Grayson is sponsoring legislation in a pre-emptive response to an anticipated Supreme Court decision to extend corporate personhood to the political arena.  The Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act and four other bills would seek to limit direct corporate participation in American politics.  According to the Huffington Post:

Grayson introduced a handful of bills on Wednesday — the Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act, the Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act, the End Political Kickbacks Act, and two other measures.

The Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act would impose a 500 percent excise tax on corporate contributions to political committees and on corporate expenditures on political advocacy campaigns. The Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act would require public companies to report what they spend to influence public opinion on any matter other than the promotion of their goods and services. The End Political Kickbacks Act would restrict political contributions by government contractors.

The other measures would apply antitrust regulations to political committees and bar corporations from securities exchanges unless the corporation is certified in compliance with election law.

“This case is basically about an effort to get around that. Citizens United took corporate money and tried to influence an election,” said Lisa Gilbert of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “These are all pieces of good policy. I hope they draw attention to the potential frightening implications of Citizens United.”

HR 1874 is a bill unlikely to see the light of day anywhere but Progressive media.   When I first read the title, I immediately bristled.  The word “Patriot” is not a favorite of mine lately thanks to the Patriot Act and TeaParty Patriots, among other things.   Use of the P word may actually help slip this bill under the radar of those very T.P Patriots and those like them.   This bill is Progressive, and is extremely relevant to yesterday’s discussion of income inequality.   The summary:

4/2/2009–Introduced. Patriot Corporations of America Act of 2009 – Grants after 2009 a preference to Patriot corporations in the evaluation of bids or proposals for federal contracts.  Defines ” Patriot corporation” as a corporation which:
(1) produces at least 90% of its goods and services in the United States;
(2) does not pay its its management-level employees at a rate more than 10,000% of the compensation of its lowest paid employee;
(3) conducts at least 50% of its research and development in the United States;
(4) contributes at least 5% of its payroll to a portable pension fund for its employees;
(5) pays at least 70% of its employees’ health insurance costs;
(6) maintains a policy of neutrality in employee organizing drives;
(7) provides full differential salary and insurance benefits for all National Guard and Reserve employees who are called to active duty; and
(8) has not violated federal regulations, including regulations relating to the environment, workplace safety, labor relations, and consumer protections. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to:
(1) reduce the income tax rate for Patriot corporations;
(2) reclassify foreign corporations created or organized to avoid federal taxation as domestic corporations for income tax purposes; and

3) increase, for the period between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2010, the income tax rate for individual taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of $500,000 or more ($1 million or more for joint returns).

I’m for it.  Let’s give tax breaks to companies that make things in the US and take away the tax breaks for companies created offshore as tax shelters.   Along the way, let’s create an incentive for a company to be pro-labor, environmentally responsible, and distribute income more evenly.    Too bad this will never make it to the House floor, let alone the Senate.

Blanche Lincoln may finally be smelling the coffee.  An insurance industry report released this week claimed that the health care reform bill working through the Senate Finance committee would raise premiums.  This is an interesting finding, considering that private insurers have actively participated in shaping this legislation.   The 11th-hour release of this report can only be seen as an effort by the industry to kill the very bill it has helped shape.   In response, Senator Lincoln said that this industry move troubles her, and that “this tactic raises real doubts about their [industry's] true commitment to health insurance reform all along,” according to Arkansas News.   Blanche Lincoln may be the only person on the planet who couldn’t see this coming all along.  Then again, she may just be covering her assets in the face of industry meddling even the most dense of Arkansas voters can see through.  Either way, it’s too little, too late for a Senator who has given the insurance industry the upper hand over voters throughout the health care debate.

More here.

HR 3400, the Republican health care reform alternative introduced by Rep. Price of Georgia, is significantly shorter than the Democrat’s version.  With only 63 pages, it is a trim model, indeed.   The GOP has responded to  pleas from concerned, but not necessarily very cerebral, citizens that legislation be short enough for the average 5th grader to read at one sitting.  That’s about the only concern the bill addresses.

This plan is standard fare for the party of business and religion.  Tax credits for the poor (defined here as under 200% of the poverty level) are given to encourage the purchase of health insurance through private industry.   For those of you out there who are very worried about your money paying for someone else’s health care, this should be a reminder:  your money may be funneled through government programs or through private providers, but it will still pay for someone else’s health care.

Pre-existing conditions?  No problem.  Under this plan you will have the right to  join a high-risk group, where paying your premiums will still probably be an unattainable goal.   The plan also encourages high-deductible policies, a perennial favorite of our Republican colleagues.   I have been laboring under the impression that high deductibles are part of the problem, not the solution.

Not in the country legally?  Forget about preventive care.   We, the taxpayers, will continue to pay the costs for your emergency room visits, while the corporations that employ you  pay nothing.

Most importantly, this bill will save us all from even the semblance of any form of taxpayer-funded abortion (for reasons other than life of the mother, incest, or rape).   This is a very important provision, considering that publicly-funded abortions would almost certainly bring down the Wrath of God on this country.  After all, He has only so much patience, and we all know He is always looking for a reason to take his Special Blessing away from the USA.

What’s not to like about a bill named the Empowering Patients First Act?  Almost everything.  The bill should more accurately be named “Empowering Private Insurers Act”.  I have to hand it to the GOP misinformation team, though.  It’s a killer name.

Thanks to Blanche Lincoln for being the only Democrat to vote for an amendment in the Senate Finance Committee to delay voting on the full health care reform bill until I and the insurance company lobbyists have at least 72 hours to read it.

Congress can’t be trusted to do its job without constant input from me,  Dr. Sally Q. Public.   I must be able to read and comment on every written and spoken word from committee sessions to the floor.  Not one jot or tittle should be added to or removed from any bill or even draft bill without my review.   I am the Universal Expert, fully and impartially informed on all issues by my favorite corporate news sources.  In fact, Senator Lincoln should probably have my number in her speed dial for legislative emergencies.

I am also a busy person, and for that reason legislation should be kept short. If Congress has to make a bill greater than 100 pages for any reason, then the entire country should just wait patiently until I have finished my reading.  And don’t give me any of that “conceptual language” business.  I want the full legislative jargon.  Total immersion.

I don’t know how Congress ever managed to do its job without me in the bad old days before the Internet.

The good news is the Murkowski amendment to the Interior Appropriations Act (HR2996) did not make it to the Senate floor today.  That’s  even better news for Senators Lincoln and Pryor, who would most likely have voted for the amendment to keep the EPA from regulating CO2 in buildings like coal-fired power plants.   Senator Feinstein, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, said today that the amendment would have created serious problems, according to the Oil and Gas Journal.

Feinstein said the proposal was not included because it would have exempted refineries, electric power plants, and other large carbon dioxide-emitters from GHG emissions regulation. If the amendment had been considered, she said she would have offered one of her own, which would have exempted small businesses and farms.

Until Congress enacts cap-and-trade legislation, EPA is obligated to regulate greenhouse gases under the CAA, she continued. Jackson has notified the White House’s Office of Management and Budget that the agency would exempt sources below 25,000 tons/year and concentrate only on the 13,000 largest carbon emitters, which already are regulated under CAA for soot, sulfur dioxide, and other pollutants, Feinstein said.

The Appopriations bill was passed today, and both Lincoln and Pryor voted in favor.

The Senate is considering the 2010 appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior (HR 2996).    The amendment would bar the EPA from using any funds to regulate carbon dioxide from stationary sources under the Clean Air Act.

Effective during the 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, none of the funds made available for the Environmental Protection Agency under this Act may be expended to regulate or control carbon dioxide from any sources other than a mobile source as described in section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act or to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act except for purposes of section 10 202(a) of that Act.

What this means is that carbon dioxide will be regulated from cars, but not from buildings including coal-fired power plants and other big polluters.   According to the League of Conservation Voters, power plants emit about twice as much CO2 as all the cars on the roads in America today.  This amendment would force the EPA to ignore a 2007 Supreme Court decision that the EPA does have the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate climate change-related pollution.   Votes like this are especially relevant here in Arkansas as the fight against new coal-fired power plants goes on.

The vote on this amendment will happen soon.  Please contact Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor and tell them to vote against the Murkowski Amendment to HR2996.  Tell them you support a strong EPA and strong CO2 regulations.

Several organizations have made it easy for you to do this.  The League of Conservation Voters has a letter you can send just by editing and clicking (always personalize these types of letters!).   It’s always better to call if you can.  Contact info for Senators Lincoln and Pryor is on the right.

Update:  Check out this fake New York Post story.  A group called the Yes Men and a coalition of activists printed a fake New York Post full of alarming headlines about the potential effects of climate change.  The paper was fake, but all the stories came directly from a New York City official report.

Update 9/22/09:  Audubon also has a letter to sign and email.

Today, the Senate voted on an amendment to the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations bill (HR3288) that would prohibit stimulus funds from being spent on signage giving credit for improvements to stimulus funding.  The amendment, S Amendment 2361, was rejected.  Blanche Lincoln voted for this amendment, and Mark Pryor voted against.    American taxpayers probably spent more for Senate salaries during the time spent in consideration of this amendment than they would have saved had it passed (it didn’t).  Trivia.  Petty politics by Republicans who don’t want the Democratic Congress and President Obama getting credit for any positive, tangible results of the stimulus package.

More meaningful were several amendments proposed by Senator McCain to block funding for mass transit projects nationwide.

This is the first in a series of posts to provide a quick review of how our Representatives in the US House of Representatives have voted over the summer.

HR3269:  Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act of 2009.  This bill would make “golden parachutes” subject to shareholder vote and would make executive compensation more transparent to prevent abuse.   All “Nays” from Arkansas.   TeaBaggers take note:  your Representative is really looking out for you, the little guy.   We expect this sort of vote from the GOP, but Ross, Snyder, and Berry have betrayed their constituents with this one.

HR3435:  Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2009 for the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program (AKA Cash for Clunkers):   Berry, Ross and Snyder voted to extend this successful program that worked to bring stimulus aid directly to taxpayers, and helped the auto industry along the way.  Boozman couldn’t see his way clear to vote against his party for a program to help the little people. (77 Republicans had the guts to break with their party over its obstructionist politics here).

HR2749:  Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.  Berry, Ross, Snyder “aye”, Boozman, “no.”  Note, USDA regulated foods, including poultry, meat and most farm products, were exempted in this bill.  Boozman can’t hide behind Arkansas farmers as his excuse for voting no on enhanced food safety for consumers.

HR3326:  Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2010:  All Ayes for this very long-winded text.    One can only assume constituents don’t really care whether this one was read or not prior to vote.

HR509:  Marine Turtle Conservation Reauthorization act of 2009:  Berry, Ross, Snyder voted for continued protection of endangered sea turtles.  Boozman, like most of the GOP, voted “no.”

HR556:  Southern Sea Otter Recovery and Research Act of 2009:  Ditto.  Boozman is many things.  Conservationist isn’t one of them.

HR3293: Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010   Democrats in favor, Republican opposed.

HR3288:   Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010:   Democrats, “aye”, Boozman, “no.”

HR2920: Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009.  This bill reinstitutes and updates the Pay-As-You-Go requirement of budget neutrality on new tax and mandatory spending legislation, enforced by the threat of annual, automatic sequestration.  Berry, Ross, Snyder were in favor.  Boozman was opposed to pay-as-you-go.

HRes270 EH:  Predictably, “Hunters for the Hungry” was popular with all Arkansas Congressmen.