Congress Is Poised to Give Amazon and Other Corporations Massive New Subsidies
Under the guise of boosting US competitiveness with China, Congress is set to grant another round of massive corporate giveaways. The bill even includes $10 billion for Jeff Bezos’s space venture.
Jeff Bezos during the 32nd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Matthew Staver / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
As lawmakers stall climate legislation and the Biden White House refuses to cancel student debt, Amazon and tech giants are set to score billions of dollars of new government handouts being included in an economic competitiveness bill now moving through the United States Senate.
The United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), which has been billed as helping the United States compete with China by investing in scientific and technological development, already includes several massive corporate giveaways, including $52 billion worth of subsidies for highly profitable chip companies like Intel and $10 billion for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s space venture. Lawmakers previously blocked legislative language from Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) designed to prevent the government cash from being used to enrich shareholders through stock buybacks.
Amazon, Intel, and other big companies could soon score one more big win in the USICA legislation, with Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) pushing to make sure it includes a blanket corporate tax exemption for research and development (R&D) that would be worth $125 billion over the next four years.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.