Posts from Sludge
House to Vote on the Largest Defense Budget in History
House progressives have again introduced amendments to significantly reduce the massive Pentagon budget of at least $768 billion.
Manchin Removes Ethics Provisions From Democratic Reform Bill
The For the People Act passed by the U.S. House in March, filibustered in the Senate in June, contains over a hundred pages of ethics legislation, along with changes to campaign finance laws and election access. All of the government ethics provisions have now been stripped out of the Senate Democrats’ compromise version, the Freedom […]
Neal’s Reconciliation Plan Lets Investment Managers Keep Their Tax Loophole
In 2007, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) was an original cosponsor of a bill that would have closed a tax loophole that lets investment fund managers pay the lower capital gains tax rates on the income they earn from the fees they charge their clients. The capital gains tax rates […]
Democrats’ Budget Plan Would Cost Only Half of One Percent of GDP
The Biden admin's $3.5 trillion spending plan over ten years would have a net cost of $1-1.75 trillion, budget groups say, far less than the Trump tax cuts of 2017.
News Outlet Founded by Blue Dog Dem Operatives Promotes Big Pharma’s Lobbying Aims
Leaders of a centrist advocacy group with funding from the pharmaceutical industry founded outlet The Well News and have editorial input on its promoted posts.
AT&T Is the Top Corporate Donor to the Texas Abortion Ban Co-Authors
This week, a Texas bill took effect that bans physicians from performing or inducing an abortion if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, something that typically occurs about six weeks after conception. There is an exception for medical emergencies, but no exceptions for women who have been raped or are victims of incest. Most women […]
Defense Contractors Are Top Donors to House Election Objectors, Report Finds
The top Fortune 500 donors this year to House GOP election objectors are weapons companies whose revenue comes overwhelmingly from defense contracts.
General Electric Gets Billions in Defense Contracts While Reps Hold Its Stock
Texas Republican Michael McCaul owned up to $6 million in G.E. shares as he sits on the Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees.
Cattle Rancher Cynthia Lummis Wants to Deregulate Meat Inspection
Earlier this year, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) became an original co-sponsor on a bill to declare that meat and poultry from all state-inspected slaughterhouses can be shipped throughout the country to be sold by grocery stores. Under current law, only meat and poultry from federally-inspected plants and facilities in a handful of states whose inspection […]
Despite Claiming to Divest, Ro Khanna’s Wife Held Onto Some Defense Stocks
In December 2020, Ritu Khanna, the wife of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), divested from several weapons companies after Sludge published an article revealing that her fortune included defense contractor stocks worth as much as $376,000. The stock sales were celebrated by the anti-war group Code Pink, which had run a campaign calling on Khanna to […]
It’s Not Just Manchin: The Top Energy Dem in the House Also Has Fossil Fuel Conflicts
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, benefits from investments in the fossil fuel industry while crafting climate policies.
The Roadblocks to Banning Congress From Trading Stocks
It’s no shock that most members of Congress, over half of whom are millionaires, don’t want to stop themselves and their spouses from being allowed to trade corporate stocks and derivatives while they hold public office. Just 8 percent of the House and 3 percent of the Senate are co-sponsoring bills to ban congressional stock […]
Blue Dogs Seek to Delay Democratic Budget Plan After Their PAC Takes Millions From Corporate America
The House Blue Dog PAC has received donations from pharmaceutical giants, health care companies, and the fossil fuel industry this year as nearly half of their members seek to delay a vote on the Democrats’ budget plan.
