Joe Biden Has Preserved Key Ethics Loopholes for New Appointees
Joe Biden’s new ethics order will limit one revolving door loophole between government and lobbying — but not the loopholes Biden’s own cabinet picks used to make their fortunes.
239 Articles by: Andrew Perez
Andrew Perez is senior editor and a reporter at the Lever covering money and influence.
Joe Biden Lifted His Health Care Plan From Insurance Industry Lobbyists
Instead of pushing a promised public health care option or expanding Medicare or any of the other health reforms the United States desperately needs, Joe Biden’s health care reform draws from proposals from for-profit health insurance companies.
Corporate Democrats Want Tax Breaks for the Rich — Not $2,000 Survival Checks
Corporate Democrats are backing off a chance to push for a new round of $2,000 survival checks. And some of them are even floating tax breaks for the wealthy instead. We should rally against this backsliding.
Joe Biden Is Yet Again Trying to Woo the GOP. He Should Give It Up.
According to recent reporting, Joe Biden wants to strike a deal with Republicans on a new round of COVID-19 relief, rather than ramming through a package without their support. After everything that has happened in recent weeks and years with the GOP, how is Biden still naive enough to think he can strike a deal with them?
The Giant Corporate Giant Slush Fund Bankrolling the Extremist GOP
Corporations are being lauded for halting PAC donations to the Republicans after the Capitol riot — but they are not shutting down the $500 million pool of cash that bankrolled authoritarian extremists.
We Should Know Exactly Who Funded Last Week’s Right-Wing Riot
Last week’s right-wing riot at the Capitol was egged on by politicians and organizations that have received substantial dark-money funding from corporate interests. It’s past time to enact reforms to end the era of dark money — and find out who exactly is bankrolling the anti-democratic far right.
Sen. Joe Manchin Wants to Block You From Getting a $2,000 Check
Joe Manchin, the Democratic West Virginia senator who is a Republican in all but name, represents a state suffering immense economic hardship under COVID-19. Yet he is threatening to block a new round of $2,000 survival checks that his constituents — and all of us — badly need.
The GOP’s Wealthy Funders Want You to Forget Their Role in Stoking Wednesday’s Riot at the Capitol
Corporate-backed conservative groups like the US Chamber of Commerce, the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, and companies like Chevron have all issued statements decrying Wednesday’s occupation of the Capitol — without acknowledging the role they played in helping elect the politicians who egged on and fueled the attempt to overturn the presidential election.
Georgia Voters Want Congress to Start Fighting for Them
The exit polls from Georgia are clear: voters think Congress is doing too little to help them and too much for large corporations.
Joe Biden Was Against $2,000 Checks. After Enormous Pressure, He’s Reluctantly Changing His Tune.
Joe Biden is no friend to progressive politics of any kind. But after constant pressure, the president-elect has changed his stance on $2,000 survival checks if Georgia Democrats win.
Joe Biden’s Nominees Walk Through the Revolving Door
Companies like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup that paid speaking fees to Joe Biden’s Treasury and State nominees also have business before the departments they are set to run — potentially a serious conflict of interest.
Chuck Schumer Begins 2021 Promising To Fight — Then Immediately Surrenders
Chuck Schumer spent New Year’s morning pretending he and establishment Democrats are fighting Republicans for $2,000 survival checks — right before he went to the Senate floor to surrender on live television. It’s January 1 and the mask is already off.
Senate Democrats Could Have Defied Mitch McConnell on $2,000 Checks. They Chose Not to.
Democrats and Beltway pundits helped Mitch McConnell undermine Bernie Sanders’s push for direct aid to millions of Americans facing eviction, starvation, and bankruptcy through $2,000 checks. Even for a party that is constantly disappointing, Democrats’ complete capitulation to McConnell and austerity ideology was shockingly pathetic.
Georgians Are Starving — And Their Millionaire Senators Refuse to Force a Vote on Aid
Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue could actually force a Senate vote on $2,000 checks for almost two thirds of Georgia households. After all, their state is in the middle of a calamity. Instead, they are issuing belated, meek platitudes.
Mitch McConnell Is Accountable to Corporations – Not the People Who Elected Him
House Republicans and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell represent voters who are disproportionately struggling — yet they’re blocking $2,000 survival checks. It’s American politics in a nutshell.
Where in the World Is Kamala Harris?
Vice president–elect Kamala Harris made headlines earlier this year pushing $2,000 checks for all American. But suddenly, despite being desperately needed right now, she’s nowhere to be found on the issue.
We Need $2,000 and Real COVID-19 Relief
Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Joe Biden need to do everything in their power to call Donald Trump’s bluff and force a vote to increase the proposed $600 relief checks to $2,000. The fact that they don’t seem to be says a lot about what’s wrong with the Democratic Party.
A Millionaire Senate Republican Cited the Deficit To Block Aid — After Enriching Himself With Tax Cuts
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson led the fight to give himself a tax cut of up to $205,000. Now he is citing budget concerns to block emergency $1,200 checks as America faces mass starvation.
A New Senate Proposal Would Shield Corporations From All COVID Lawsuits
In a major sop to business interests, a Senate proposal would allow corporations to avoid COVID-related lawsuits from workers and patients. Corporate immunity is the last thing we need.
Blackstone CEO Celebrates “Huge Increases in Rents” as Millions Face Eviction
Billionaire Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman bragged that his firm “was a huge winner coming out of the global financial crisis” in 2008. Today, he’s boasting about his firm’s big earnings off high rents, even as millions of tenants face eviction.