'All You Have to Do Is Follow the Money': Ilhan Omar Rebukes Corporate Democrats

[jalan48]

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar offered what she termed "an honest accounting" late Wednesday night of the "ever-evolving negotiations" to do with the Democratic effort in Congress to pass the once sweeping, but now hobbling 'Build Back Better' bill that has been ransacked by a small handful of corporate-backed members of the party.

According to Omar's accounting, which included numerous citations, the reality is that the coordinated corporate assault is at the heart of why Democrats ended up negotiating against itself—even on an agenda that President Joe Biden and the party ran on just last year. Omar tweeted:

"First," stated the Minnesota Democrat in a lengthy and detailed thread on social media, "instead of centering the needs of the American people, corporate Democrats have purely been about lining the pockets and serving the interests of the donor class."

"If you really want to know why a provision is being killed," she then added, "all you have to do is follow the money…"

The public rebuke of fellow Democrats like Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona came just hours after reporting revealed that a proposal for paid family leave was the latest progressive initiative on the legislative chopping block, apparently at the insistence of Manchin.According to Omar's accounting, which included numerous citations, the reality is that the coordinated corporate assault is at the heart of why Democrats ended up negotiating against itself—even on an agenda that President Joe Biden and the party ran on just last year. Omar tweeted:

"The U.S. Chamber of Congress—the face of corporate greed—is working overtime to kill the bill, and already spent $30 million this year on lobbyists, along with a six figure ad campaign." (Open Secrets)
"Big Pharma—desperate to keep drug prices as high as possible—has spent $15 million. (Open Secrets) The oil and gas industry has spent over $55 million."

"A shadowy group called "Center Forward" is running ads everywhere to reward politicians trying to slash the bill. Shocker! They receive $1.5 million a year from Big Pharma." (New York Times)




More at link
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/10/28/all-you-have-do-follow-money-ilhan-omar-rebukes-corporate-democrats

[Autumn]

1. Indeed. Follow the money. Enough is enough of taking out everything that benefits people.

[PoliticAverse]

3. "Big Pharma--desperate to keep drug prices as high as possible--has spent $15 million."

A bargain for them. Killing drug price negotiation is worth literally several hundred billion dollars to them over the next 10 years.

[CrispyQ]

4. Publicly funded elections would go a long way to fixing this country.

Of course, when the very folks who benefit from the flood of cash pouring into our electoral process are the ones who can fix it, well, I'm not holding my breath.

But the other hard sell is the American public. I always thought this was an issue that both left & right could coalesce around, but it turns out that even the left isn't much interested in it.