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The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Karl Frisch, 202-580-5813

Report: Conservatives in Congress Obstructing Inflation Solutions Have Received Nearly $9M From Corporate Interests

On the heels of the U.S. Labor Department's latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, government watchdog Accountable.US released a new analysis finding that industry groups and corporations have given nearly $9 million to Republican Members of Congress who are obstructing any and all of President Biden's plans to fight inflation and bring down costs for everyday families.

WASHINGTON

On the heels of the U.S. Labor Department's latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, government watchdog Accountable.US released a new analysis finding that industry groups and corporations have given nearly $9 million to Republican Members of Congress who are obstructing any and all of President Biden's plans to fight inflation and bring down costs for everyday families. The report analyzed four of President Biden's priorities to lower costs -- housing, prescription drugs, childcare, and clean energy -- finding that corporate interests have poured millions into the campaigns of lawmakers preventing many of these cost-saving solutions from passing.

Among Accountable.US' findings, the real estate industry has given over $3 million to Congressional Republicans who denounced President Biden's Housing Supply Action Plan or voted against Build Back Better (BBB) and its pro-housing provisions. Biden's Housing Supply Action Plan includes several concepts previously proposed in BBB that would bring down housing costs and have been commended by several real estate industry groups.

"Across industries, corporations boasting of record profits have shown their excessive price increases were unnecessary and driven by greed -- and many have only made matters worse by rewarding the behavior of those in Congress obstructing real solutions for bringing down costs for everyday families. Corporate interests are throwing money at conservatives in Congress that complain constantly about inflation challenges and yet refuse to lift a finger to help do anything constructive about it," said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US. "Millions of dollars in corporate donations only encourages those in Congress who say 'no' to an expanded child credit or allowing Medicare to negotiate cheaper drug prices to continue sabotaging economic progress for working families for their own selfish political gain."

The new report follows Accountable.US' previous research over the last several months on how clear pandemic profiteering and corporate greed from the big oil, meat packing, shipping, retail, clothing, food, trucking and railroad companies are making inflation/supply chain problems worse for everyday consumers. In our view, big industries are only compounding the problem by rewarding those in Congress obstructing every commonsense measure to fight inflation that comes before them, no matter how widely the public supports the initiatives.

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE REPORT:

Accountable.US is a nonpartisan watchdog that exposes corruption in public life and holds government officials and corporate special interests accountable by bringing their influence and misconduct to light. In doing so, we make way for policies that advance the interests of all Americans, not just the rich and powerful.