Ed.: When we VET candidates
we use Open Secrets for following the money. This is the new report on the
Lobbyist in bed with both parties. This is why for YEARS the Tea Party and
other grassroots organizations have tried to expose the money in the DC Swamp.
Many of you already understand this and have been fighting for a change.
Cynthia Lucas
A CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS REPORT
— By Karl Evers-Hillstrom and Dan Auble, Aug. 19, 2020
As President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) negotiated the legislative response to the COVID-19 pandemic, their former aides lobbied them on behalf of deep-pocketed companies.
Over 1,000 clients dispatched lobbyists with close ties to the White House or congressional leaders through the first half of 2020. About 40 percent of those clients reported lobbying on issues related to the pandemic.
Pharmaceutical companies that received massive windfalls from the federal government to swiftly develop COVID-19 vaccines deployed Washington insiders. So did firms tasked with producing ventilators, and businesses in hard-hit industries angling for government aid. Companies that had not lobbied during the Trump administration — or ever before — signed contracts with K Street firms.
The vast majority of these clients are businesses or trade associations, which make up nearly 90 percent of lobbying spending this year. The success of revolving door lobbyists indicates that powerful interests saw former aides to top officials as their best chance to influence high-level negotiations that mostly sidelined rank-and-file lawmakers.
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