February, 24 2020, 11:00pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Don Owens, dowens@citizen.org, (202) 588-7767
Angela Bradbery, abradbery@citizen.org, (202) 588-7741
Bernhardt? Or Swamp Monster? Video to Run Tuesday Outside Interior Department Showing That the Distinction Is Difficult to Make
Truck With Video Loop Will Park Outside Public Forum on NEPA to Highlight Industry Takeover of the Interior Department
WASHINGTON
WHAT: A truck with a giant TV screen will park outside the U.S.Department of the Interior for eight hours on Tuesday, running a looping video for passersby and Interior Department employees and visitors.
The video, accompanied by spooky music, will show that it's difficult to distinguish between Interior Secretary David Bernhardt - a former oil and gas lobbyist - and a creature of the Washington, D.C., "swamp" of lobbyists and corporate cronies that President Donald Trump derided as a candidate but now embraces wholeheartedly.
While the video runs, the Trump administration will host a public hearing on Trump's proposal to gut the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by dramatically scaling back environmental review requirements for dirty energy plants, oil wells and pipelines. Doing so would let fossil fuel corporations off the hook for pollution and damage to the climate, as well as benefit Bernhardt's former clients.
Bernhardt, who was deputy secretary then acting secretary of the department before being confirmed as secretary in April 2019, is perhaps best known for carrying an index card listing all the corporations he lobbied for before going to the department. The list was so extensive that he needed a handy reference. An activist dressed as a swamp monster attended Bernhardt's confirmation hearing, sitting several rows behind Bernhardt, to reinforce his industry connections.
Public Citizen staffers will hand out fliers to passersby emphasizing the dangers of an oil and gas industry lobbyist being charged with protecting public lands. (Spoiler alert: Public lands don't do so well.)
WHERE: U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street NW, Washington, D.C.
*The truck will be set up on C Street NW between 18th and 19th Streets NW
WHEN: 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 25
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
(202) 588-1000LATEST NEWS
How Amazon Exemplifies a Right-Wing Tax Code Rigged for Oligarchs Like Jeff Bezos
A new report makes clear "what's at stake by detailing the numerous ways Trump's tax code is designed to favor Amazon and its executives."
Apr 25, 2025
Few if any corporations in the United States better exemplify the rigged nature of the nation's tax code than the e-commerce behemoth Amazon, which throughout its history has made use of cavernous loopholes to avoid taxation and build massive wealth for its top executives—including founder Jeff Bezos.
In a new report titled "Amazon and Our Rigged Tax System," a coalition of advocacy organizations details how "corporate tax advantages have been essential to the company's rapid growth and increasing market dominance"—and examines how Republican plans for another round of tax cuts could further benefit the corporation and Bezos.
The report from the Institute for Policy Studies, Athena Coalition, and PowerSwitch Action notes that Amazon—described as a "perfect case study in what is wrong with our tax code"—has "used credits and loopholes to avoid paying even the sharply reduced" 21% statutory corporate tax rate established in 2017 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which President Donald Trump signed into law early in his first term.
If Amazon had paid the 21% statutory corporate tax rate between 2018 and 2021, the company's federal tax bill during that period would have been $12.5 billion higher, the groups estimated.
But in 2018, the first year the TCJA was in effect, Amazon received more in federal tax credits than it paid in taxes, giving the company a negative federal tax rate.
Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon's CEO in 2021 but still serves as executive chairman, has also benefited substantially from the skewed U.S. tax code. The report estimates that Bezos, one of the wealthiest people in the world, "pocketed $6.2 billion as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's failure to address the disparity in tax rates on income from wealth versus income from work."
"On his $36.7 billion in Amazon stock sales since that tax reform, Bezos owed only a 20% capital gains tax, far less than the 37% top marginal rate on ordinary income," the new report notes.
Andy Jassy, the company's current CEO, has "pocketed at least $6.6 million in savings over the past seven years thanks to the TCJA's reduction in the top marginal income tax rate," according to the new report.
"To stop autocracy, we need to challenge the corporations and billionaires behind and benefiting from oligarchy, not give them more tax breaks."
The report was published as Republicans in the U.S. Congress, with full support from President Donald Trump, work on tax legislation that's expected to renew individual provisions of the TCJA that would otherwise expire at the end of the year.
If the Republican-controlled Congress extends the soon-to-expire estate tax provisions of the TCJA—which doubled the federal estate tax exemption—"Bezos and Jassy's heirs would enjoy savings of $5.6 million," the new report estimates.
The advocacy groups said they produced the report out of "shared concern that a rising oligarchy is building an economy that bankrolls billionaires while leaving workers and small businesses behind."
"Right now, working families are bracing for drastic cuts to life-saving programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare and harmful slashing of pro-consumer regulations," the groups said. "Meanwhile, big corporations like Amazon and their executives stand to get even richer and more powerful through the huge tax breaks proposed by the administration and Congress. This fight has profound implications not only for Amazon and its executives, but for the balance of power in our economy."
Lauren Jacobs, executive director of PowerSwitch Action, said in a statement that "Amazon and Jeff Bezos have made billions squeezing every drop of profit they can out of our communities by breaking workers' bodies, poisoning our air, and sucking up public subsidies, and now they're selling out our fundamental freedoms."
"To stop autocracy," said Jacobs, "we need to challenge the corporations and billionaires behind and benefiting from oligarchy, not give them more tax breaks."
The report proposes a number of potential legislative solutions that it describes collectively as a "pro-worker and small business fair tax agenda."
Among the proposals are raising rather than cutting the statutory corporate tax rate and closing loopholes, imposing tax penalties on companies with massive CEO-to-worker-pay gaps, raising taxes on stock buybacks, and lifting the Social Security payroll tax cap to ensure the wealthy "pay their fair share into the system."
"This report highlights what's at stake by detailing the numerous ways Trump's tax code is designed to favor Amazon and its executives over the very workers and independent small businesses that have been hurt by Amazon," said Ryan Gerety, director of the Athena Coalition. "Over the next several months, we must stand together to protect public programs and oppose tax handouts to corporate billionaires like Andy Jassy and Jeff Bezos."
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'Win for Government Ethics' as George Santos Sentenced to 7 Years for Fraud
"Now more than ever, a commitment to transparency and accountability is key to ensuring that candidates and elected officials serve the public, not their own interests," said one campaign finance reform advocate.
Apr 25, 2025
Government ethics watchdogs on Friday said the sentencing of former Republican congressman George Santos to more than seven years in prison for fraud was a victory for "the many voters and donors who were deceived" by the disgraced lawmaker.
"Santos' brazen fraud and misconduct, which included serious violations of federal campaign finance laws, was an affront to his constituents, his donors, and the integrity of our democracy," said Saurav Ghosh, director of campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center. "The fact that he was held accountable should speak loudly to anyone contemplating similar actions aimed at exploiting the democratic process for personal gain."
Santos received his 87-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert in the Eastern District of New York eight months after he pleaded guilty to two felony counts and admitted to using his campaign fundraising operation for personal gain.
The former New York congressman, who flipped a blue seat in a Long Island district in 2022 and was charged by prosecutors just months later, admitted to submitting false reports to the Federal Election Commission, stealing financial and personal information from elderly and cognitively impaired donors to fraudulently charge their credit cards, and using campaign contributions for luxury shopping and a hotel room in Las Vegas.
"The robust enforcement of campaign finance and ethics laws is critical to ensuring that our democracy works for everyday Americans, not politicians' personal interests."
Seybert said during the sentencing that Santos had committed "flagrant thievery" during his brief political career.
He is required to report to prison by July 25 and was also ordered to pay more than $373,000 in restitution.
"This accountability for his pattern of unethical and illegal conduct is a win for government ethics," said Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Ghosh praised "the diligent enforcement efforts of the Office of Congressional Ethics, which helped bring about this result."
"Now more than ever, a commitment to transparency and accountability is key to ensuring that candidates and elected officials serve the public, not their own interests," said Ghosh. "The robust enforcement of campaign finance and ethics laws is critical to ensuring that our democracy works for everyday Americans, not politicians' personal interests."
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After Uproar, Trump Reverses on Mass Suspension of Student Visas
While the backtracking by the administration was welcome, one immigration expert warned people to "stay tuned for a round 2.0 of this."
Apr 25, 2025
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
A U.S. Department of Justice attorney told a federal court on Friday that the Trump administration will restore the visa status of thousands of foreign students after removing their information from a nationwide database, which led some universities to inform students that they must immediately self-deport and sparked numerous legal battles.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated over 4,700 international students' records on the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which "sparked more than 100 lawsuits, with judges in more than 50 of the cases—spanning at least 23 states—ordering the administration to temporarily undo the actions," according toPolitco. "Dozens more judges seemed prepared to follow suit before Friday's reversal."
In a statement read aloud during a federal court hearing on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Carilli explained that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations."
"Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain active or shall be reactivated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination," Carilli added, referring to the National Crime Information Center.
According toWUSA9's Jordan Fisher, Carilli also said the Department of Justice intends to file a similar statement in the other cases, but ICE reserves the right to terminate SEVIS records in the future based on student behavior.
The journalist added on social media that "I spoke with an attorney last night who said he's already talked to foreign students who left the U.S.—fearing they would be deported otherwise. This decision does not restore any canceled visas, and now they may face real difficulties returning."
Responding to the news on social media, American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick said that "this is massive," but added this is "not the end" of the issue.
"ICE says it is going to develop a new policy to terminate SEVIS records legally in a way that aligns with their plans," he stressed. "So stay tuned for a round 2.0 of this—which would presumably be less chaotic, at the minimum."
Despite the development in the Washington, D.C. court, and the Justice Department's supposed plan to share its update with other courts across the country, some cases seem to be proceeding, at least for now.
Boston Globe reporter Steven Porter said on social media that he asked the ACLU of New Hampshire about the Friday statement, "(since they represent multiple plaintiffs whose SEVIS records were terminated), and legal director Gilles Bissonnette said they still don't know the nature or extent of these reversals."
"Bissonnette said the government hasn't given any indication that it intends to restore Dartmouth doctoral student Xiaotian Liu's student status absent an order from the court," so Liu still has 'an urgent and critical need' for immediate relief," Porter reported. "A federal judge in New Hampshire is likely to rule today on whether to grant a preliminary injunction in Liu's case. There is currently a temporary restraining order in place."
In addition to the SEVIS terminations, the Trump administration is targeting universities' federal funding as well as trying to deport several immigrants involved in campus protests against the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, widely condemned as a genocide against Palestinians.
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