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Senate GOP Kills Bill That Would've Reversed $10 Billion Trump Corporate Tax Break
Sen. Ron Wyden called the tax giveaway "indefensible at a time when so many Americans are getting battered by inflation and barely staying afloat."
Feb 10, 2026
Nearly all US Senate Republicans on Tuesday voted to block a resolution that would have reversed a Trump administration regulatory change set to give some of the country's richest companies a $10.3 billion tax break.
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution was spearheaded by Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Angus King (I-Maine). The vote on whether to advance it was 47-51. The only Republican to vote in favor was the other Mainer, Susan Collins, who just confirmed she is running for another term, despite two strong Democratic challengers.
In a statement after the vote, Wyden tied the target of his resolution—an Internal Revenue Service guidance undermining the corporate alternative minimum tax (CAMT)—to the sweeping budget package that GOP lawmakers passed and President Donald Trump signed last summer, which also featured significant tax breaks for the rich.
"The ink is barely dry on the megabill Trump and Republicans passed to give $1 trillion in new tax breaks to giant corporations, and now his Treasury Department is throwing another $10 billion handout to the most profitable corporations in America," Wyden said.
"The pattern we're seeing is that the Trump administration gives big corporations and ultrawealthy donors whatever tax benefits they want the second they walk through the door at the Treasury Department, but that doesn't mean the Senate has to allow this giveaway to happen," he stressed. "Stuffing $10 billion into the coffers of corporations that are already raking in enormous profits is indefensible at a time when so many Americans are getting battered by inflation and barely staying afloat."
King similarly declared that "it's downright unfair to give billions in tax relief to America's most successful corporations when Maine people are struggling to afford their prescription drugs, childcare, and groceries." He described their resolution as "a commonsense step toward a fairer tax policy that prioritizes people over profits and levels the playing field."
Although the defeat was predictable, economic justice advocates lambasted Senate Republicans for killing the resolution.
Americans for Tax Fairness executive director David Kass said in a statement that "after passing historic tax giveaways for billionaires and big business through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA), blowing up the deficit, and cutting billions from critical healthcare and nutrition programs to pay for it, Trump and his GOP allies in the Senate are taking every opportunity to ensure economic elites can avoid paying their fair share."
"This guidance would effectively circumvent Congress and create numerous opportunities for corporate tax evasion while increasing the deficit and national debt, thus creating more imbalance in a tax code that already favors the wealthy and large corporations," Kass said. "Sen. Wyden is right to lead the charge to stop this guidance—average Americans should not be forced to subsidize some of the most profitable companies on Earth."
Like the Senate, the House of Representatives is also narrowly controlled by the GOP. Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, noted in a Tuesday blog post that "even if lawmakers of both parties had sufficient backbone to retake the legislative power that the executive branch has usurped, President Trump would veto such a bill."
"But as a matter of educating lawmakers and the public, the recently rejected measure was a success given that tax legislation (such as this resolution) up for a vote in Congress usually gets an official budget score from Congress' revenue estimators at the Joint Committee on Taxation," he wrote. "And in this case, that reveals that this unilateral corporate tax cut from the Trump administration will cost $10 billion over a decade unless it is reversed."
"The Senate's failure to ratify Wyden's resolution may be only the opening salvo for members of Congress who want to retake the power given them under the Constitution to make tax law," Gardner suggested. "The regulation in question is not the first, and surely not the last, attempt by President Trump to unilaterally cut corporate taxes."
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Million-Dollar Ad Blitz Targets Senate Dems Who Voted for 'Trump Loyalist Judges'
"This isn’t normal," said the president of the group behind the ad campaign. "If Senate Democrats don’t take a stand and strongly oppose these judicial nominees who have disqualified themselves—we will."
Dec 03, 2025
The progressive advocacy group Demand Justice on Wednesday launched a seven-figure advertising campaign targeting three members of the Senate Democratic caucus who have voted to confirm President Donald Trump's lifetime judicial nominees, enabling the ongoing right-wing takeover of the nation's courts.
The first series of ads will target Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and Angus King (D-Maine), three of the 16 members of the Senate Democratic caucus who have voted to confirm at least one Trump judge this year. Other Senate Democrats who have voted with Republicans in support of at least one Trump judicial pick include Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Adam Schiff of California, and Chris Coons of Delaware.
"It is outrageous that Senate Democrats are voting to confirm Trump’s judicial nominees who refuse to tell the truth about January 6th and the 2020 election,” Josh Orton, the president of Demand Justice, said in a statement. “This isn’t normal. If Senate Democrats don’t take a stand and strongly oppose these judicial nominees who have disqualified themselves—we will. And we won’t let up.”
The group's campaign will also include a national cable TV ad buy and "coordinated digital rollout across key battleground states" naming and shaming Democrats who support "Trump loyalist judges" even as the lawmakers condemn the president's authoritarian assault on democracy.
Watch the Demand Justice ad targeting Maggie Hassan, who on Tuesday voted to confirm Lindsey Ann Freeman, Trump's nominee to the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina:
Freeman, like other Trump judicial picks, refused during her confirmation process to say directly that the president lost the 2020 election.
"President Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 presidential election and served as the 46th President of the United States," Freeman wrote in response to questions from Durbin, who ultimately voted in favor of her confirmation.
In a report released last month, Demand Justice analyzed Trump judicial picks' written responses to senators' questions. The analysis shows that "nominees' responses appear nearly identical, with many nominees using verbatim phrasing, repeating key words, and, overall, using unusual and evasive language that’s almost entirely outside the normal, historical, and common lexicon used to describe such events."
"Every nominee provided near-identical phrasing to avoid a direct answer about the 2020 election, instead referencing the results of the congressional 'certification' process, or answering by noting that President Biden 'served' as president," the report notes. "And 21 of 27 nominees provided extremely similar responses in regard to January 6, often describing what transpired as a 'political issue' and refusing to comment further."
Orton of Demand Justice said that "it is unprecedented for lifetime nominees to the federal bench to provide dishonest and misleading answers about historical facts—and it is deeply concerning that Trump’s nominees are parroting such strikingly similar language, the president’s own language, to avoid telling the truth."
That more than a dozen Senate Democrats still voted to confirm at least one of those nominees is "simply unacceptable," said Orton.
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Angus King Denounced for Claiming 'Standing Up to Trump Didn’t Work' After Shutdown Cave
"Bold choice going with a strategy of 'we are losers,'" wrote one critic of King's statement.
Nov 10, 2025
Sen. Angus King, one of the senators who broke with the majority of the Democratic caucus to support a deal to end the federal government shutdown, drew swift anger when defending his vote on Monday morning.
During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," King (I-Maine) tried to make the case that shutting down the government had only given President Donald Trump a free hand to consolidate power in the White House.
"In terms of standing up to Donald Trump, the shutdown actually gave him more power, Exhibit A being what he's done with [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]," he said. "So, standing up to Donald Trump didn't work, it actually gave him more power."
Sen. Angus King: "Standing up to Donald Trump didn't work" pic.twitter.com/Y751B5SajR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 10, 2025
Senate Democrats who supported the deal have been denounced by progressives, and even some moderates, for agreeing to fund the federal government without securing an extension for enhanced tax credits for people who buy health insurance through Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges. The tax credits have been at the center of the shutdown—the longest in US history—but the Democrats who voted with the GOP did so after securing only the Republicans' claim that they'll hold a vote on healthcare in the future.
Polls have shown a majority of voters have blamed the Republican Party for the shutdown, and a plurality of respondents to a KFF survey last week said Democrats should hold firm in their demand on healthcare subsidies. Trump said last week that the election results put more pressure on the GOP—not the Democrats—to take action to end the shutdown.
Additionally, the decision to cave on the shutdown came less than a week after Democrats won sweeping victories in key elections where candidates unapologetically stood up to Trump and vowed to fight his administration's unpopular policies.
Given this, King's statement that "standing up to Donald Trump didn't work" was met by swift and immediate blowback.
"Bold choice going with a strategy of 'we are losers,'" wrote Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters for America, in a post on X.
"Breaking Points" host Krystal Ball reacted with angry profanity to King's statement.
"Jesus fucking Christ," she fumed. "Resign. Genuinely just fucking resign."
Photographer Brett Banditelli accused King and his likeminded Democratic senators who supported the deal of "living in another reality."
"They're just DC brained," he wrote on Bluesky. "They live in a world where Politico and Punchbowl News are the most important publications."
Indivisible cofounder Leah Greenberg sarcastically imagined Democrats incorporating such "inspiring messaging" about failing to stand up to Trump into fundraising appeals.
Fordham University economist Tony Annett marveled at King's belief that it was ineffective to stand up to a president with historically low approval ratings, which stood at just over 41% last month according to one poll.
"No wonder their brand is in the toilet," he said of the Democratic Party.
A Pew Research poll released in late October found that two-thirds of Democratic voters said they were "frustrated" by the party, with the top listed reason being that Democrats have "not pushed back hard enough against the Trump administration."
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'No Aid of Any Kind' to Netanyahu While Gaza Starves: Longtime Israel-Backing Senator
"I cannot defend the indefensible," said Sen. Angus King.
Jul 28, 2025
A longtime supporter of military aid to Israel in the U.S. Senate is drawing a red line amid the ongoing starvation crisis in Gaza.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) on Monday released a statement saying he would not vote to support any more aid to Israel unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government drastically reversed course to allow more food and other life-saving supplies to enter Gaza.
In a statement flagged on X by Dylan Williams, the vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, King delivered a harsh rebuke to the Israeli government for its role in the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding under its watch.
"I cannot defend the indefensible," King's statement began. "Israel's actions in the conduct of the war in Gaza, especially its failure to address the unimaginable humanitarian crisis now unfolding, is an affront to human decency. What appears to be a deliberately-induced famine among a civilian population—including tens of thousands of starving children—can never be an acceptable military strategy."
King emphasized that he supported Israel's right to retaliate after the October 7, 2023 attacks on the country by Hamas, but then said "that tragic event cannot in turn justify the enormous toll on Palestinian civilians caused by Israel's relentless bombing campaign and its indifference to the current plight of those trapped in what's left of Gaza."
The Maine senator then vowed to back up his words with actions.
"I am through supporting the actions of the current Israeli government and will advocate—and vote—for an end to any United States support whatsoever until there is a demonstrable change in the direction of Israeli policy," he said. "My litmus test will be simple: No aid of any kind as long as there are starving children in Gaza due to the action or inaction of the Israeli government."
Israel has come under increased international pressure as images and video footage of starving children has been pouring out of Gaza in recent weeks. The Israeli government over the weekend announced a tactical "pause" in its Gaza military campaign to allow more humanitarian assistance into the area, although critics such as Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam policy lead for the occupied Palestinian territory, described the Israeli measures as woefully inadequate in the face of mass starvation.
"Deadly airdrops and a trickle of trucks won't undo months of engineered starvation in Gaza," said Khalidi on Sunday. "What's needed is the immediate opening of all crossings for full, unhindered, and safe aid delivery across all of Gaza and a permanent cease-fire. Anything less risks being little more than a tactical gesture."
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Refuting Netanyahu's Lie, Trump Acknowledges 'Real Starvation' in Gaza
"Trump and Congress must decide: Will you continue to support the starvation of children, or are you willing to use all possible U.S. leverage to stop this horrific humanitarian disaster?" said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Jul 28, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday refuted fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's lie that "there is no starvation in Gaza"—where health officials reported 14 more deaths from malnutrition in the past 24 hours—as critics underscored that Trump is what one Democratic lawmaker called "a willing accomplice" to the horror.
Trump, who met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Turnberry, Scotland, was asked by a reporter whether he agrees with Netanyahu's false claim.
"I don't know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry," the president replied. "That's real starvation stuff. I see it, and you can't fake that."
Trump also repeated an Israeli claim that Hamas is stealing food aid—an assertion refuted by his own administration, as well as IDF officials.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that at least 14 Palestinians had starved to death in the past 24 hours, bringing the number of malnutrition deaths to 147—including 88 children—since Israel launched it assault and siege of Gaza following the Hamas-led attack of October 2023.
Gaza's Government Media Office warned Monday that "there is an imminent risk of death for thousands of infants in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli occupation's ban on the entry of baby formula."
U.S. Vice President JD Vance told reporters Monday during a visit to Canton, Ohio: "I don't know if you've all seen these images. You have got some really, really heartbreaking cases. You've got little kids who are clearly starving to death. Israel's got to do more to let that aid in. And we've also got to wage war on Hamas."
Israel has been accused by United Nations officials of "flagrant disregard" for International Court of Justice orders to prevent genocidal acts and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Trump said Monday that the U.S. is "going to set up food centers where the people can walk in and no boundaries, we're not going to have fences."
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops while seeking aid at distribution points run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the United Nations human rights office. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers and soldiers say they were ordered to shoot and shell civilians at GHF aid centers.
The president also said that the U.S. will "supply funds... to spend a little money on some food" for Gazans. On Sunday, the president claimed that the U.S. recently gave $60 million worth of food to Gaza "and nobody even acknowledged it."
"Nobody talks about it," he added. "And it makes you feel a little bad when you do that...and nobody said, 'Thank you very much.'"
Trump provided no evidence to support his $60 million claim. Last month, The Guardian reported that the U.S. had authorized a $30 million grant for the GHF.
The mounting starvation deaths in Gaza have garnered widespread U.S. media attention and drawn rebuke from an increasing number of American politicians—including staunch supporters of Israel.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said Monday in a statement that "I cannot defend the indefensible... I am through supporting the actions of the current Israeli government and will advocate—and vote—for an end to any United States support whatsoever until there is a demonstrable change in the direction of Israeli policy."
Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said Sunday on social media: "More Palestinian children dying of starvation. Netanyahu's spokesperson keeps lying and his war by starvation keeps killing. Trump, once again, too weak to stand up to Netanyahu, is a willing accomplice. Belated, token airdrops offer no aid [for] any of the sick, disabled, and elderly still alive."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), a vocal critic of the Netanyahu government, posted the following on the social media site X:
Although the IDF said it had begun implementing "tactical pauses" in some parts of Gaza on Sunday, at least 62 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks in the strip, including 34 aid-seekers.
At least 59,773 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 2023, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 144,000 others have been wounded. At least 14,000 people are also missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of bombed buildings.
On Monday, the Israeli groups B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel joined the many international organizations and experts calling Israel's obliteration of Gaza a genocide. The International Court of Justice is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel brought by South Africa.
Meanwhile, Israel is seeking the Trump administration's assistance as it pursues a plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its Palestinians, including by forcibly relocating them into concentration camps. Trump previously proposed the ethnic cleansing of Gaza so that the coastal enclave can be transformed into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
On Monday, Trump claimed he told Netanyahu during a weekend phone call, "Bibi... you have to now maybe do it a different way."
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Advocates Decry Senate Confirmation of 'Anti-Abortion Extremist' to Lifetime Federal Court Seat
"Divine's confirmation makes clear that Trump lied to voters when he said he would 'leave it to the states,' and he is actively working to eliminate abortion access nationwide," said a prominent reproductive rights advocate.
Jul 22, 2025
Several advocacy groups expressed outrage on Tuesday after the United States Senate voted to confirm Missouri Solicitor General Joshua Divine to be a United States District Judge for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri.
Divine, who was confirmed by a vote of 51 in favor to 46 against, is one of several judicial nominees of U.S. President Donald Trump who has been singled out by advocates for what they describe as his extreme record on a number of issues ranging from reproductive freedoms to LGBTQ rights to relief for student loan borrowers.
Every member of the Senate Democratic caucus voted against Divine’s confirmation with the exception of Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who voted in favor. All Republicans voting in the Senate on Tuesday supported Divine’s confirmation, while three GOP senators—John Kennedy of Louisiana, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky—did not vote.
Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of abortion rights advocacy organization Reproductive Freedom for All, argued that Divine's nomination and confirmation were a sign that Trump and the GOP would not be content to leave abortion rights up to individual states.
"Divine's confirmation makes clear that Trump lied to voters when he said he would 'leave it to the states,' and he is actively working to eliminate abortion access nationwide," she said. "Federal courts are a critical line of defense to preserve reproductive healthcare, and these appointments are a dangerous sign of what's to come."
Winston Berkman-Breen, legal director of the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC), accused Divine of building a political career on the backs of student loan borrowers who were in dire need of relief from the massive debts they incurred while pursuing an education.
"Time and time again in his lawsuits challenging legal student loan payment and relief programs, Divine took extreme positions at odds with traditional judicial interpretations related to injury, standing, and venue," he said. "Because of Divine, millions of student loan borrowers remain buried in crushing debt. Divine's actions exceeded the bounds of zealous advocacy and were a direct affront to judicial procedure. Americans deserve a judge who will review the facts of the case before them and apply the law under the Constitution and as passed by Congress—not an ideologue who will manipulate those laws to obtain the outcome he prefers."
Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program and an advisor at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, didn't focus on any specific issue and instead took an all-of-the-above approach to condemning what she described as Divine's unfitness for the federal bench.
"The Senate's confirmation of Joshua Divine to the federal bench in Missouri... installs into a lifetime judgeship an individual who does not possess the requisite experience to be a federal judge and who has time and time again demonstrated significant hostility to our civil and human rights," she argued. "His limited legal career—which includes a record of intense opposition to reproductive rights, LGBTQ equality, student loan borrowers, and more—is disqualifying. Our courts, our communities, and our democracy deserve better. Senators must ensure that judicial nominees are fair-minded, actually qualified for the job, and faithful to the rule of law and Constitution rather than to an anti-civil rights agenda."
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Progressives Praise Lewiston's Rep. Golden for Seeking Forgiveness, Backing Assault Weapon Ban
"It shouldn't have to take a tragedy in your own state to come around, but we welcome Rep. Golden in the fight to ban these weapons," said George Takei.
Oct 27, 2023
Progressives in Congress and on social media praised U.S. Rep. Jared Golden—one of the most conservative House Democrats—after he reversed course and embraced a ban on assault weapons following Wednesday night's mass shooting that left 18 people dead and 13 others wounded in his hometown of Lewiston, Maine.
"I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war, like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime," Golden said during a Thursday press conference, referring to the previous night's massacre at multiple locations. "The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure, which is why I now call on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing in my hometown."
"For the good of my community, I will work with any colleague to get this done in the time that I have left in Congress," said Golden, a Marine Corps veteran who has broken with his party to vote against gun control measures including universal background checks. "To the people of Lewiston, my constituents throughout the 2nd District, to the families who lost loved ones, and to those who have been harmed, I ask for forgiveness and support as I seek to put an end to these terrible shootings."
Numerous progressive U.S. lawmakers took to social media to thank Golden.
"This is so powerful from my colleague Rep. Golden. Thank you for your humility and for giving everything you have to this fight to ban assault rifles," Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said on social media.
"My heart grieves for every lost life in your community and all those who are hurting and afraid," she added. "We must respond with action."
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) wrote: "I respect Rep. Golden for working to protect his community in the wake of tragedy and showing integrity by calling for an assault weapons ban."
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) asserted that "if more members of Congress had your courage, we could finally get these weapons of war off the streets and out of our communities."
Congresswoman Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said: "Jared Golden is facing a hard reelection campaign. He is making a choice that is the right thing to do for his district and for this country."
Gun control campaigner Fred Guttenberg—whose 14-year-old daughter Jamie Guttenberg was murdered in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida—said he is "truly thankful" that Golden "just apologized and called for an assault weapons ban."
"Honestly, though, I am sad and angry," he added. "Just imagine if he had before... Parkland or any other shooting. My message to any elected person is to support these measures before it happens in your community and before you need to apologize."
Actor and activist George Takei wrote that "one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, Jared Golden from Maine, has apologized for opposing a ban on assault weapons in the wake of the deadly shootings in his state."
"It shouldn't have to take a tragedy in your own state to come around, but we welcome Rep. Golden in the fight to ban these weapons," he added.
Maine's other House member, Rep. Chellie Pingree, told the Portland Press Herald Thursday that she has "always believed there was no good reason to own a military-style assault weapon."
Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine—for whom Golden once worked on the Senate Homeland Security Committee—dodged reporters who on Thursday asked if she would support an assault weapons ban.
"I think it is more important that we ban very high-capacity magazines," she said. "I think that would have more input and more effectiveness. Certainly, there's always more that can be done."
Maine's other U.S. senator, Independent Angus King, expressed his incredulity over the shooting, noting what he called a "deep and long history of safe gun use in the state."
Hours before the massacre—allegedly perpetrated by an Army reservist with a history of mental health issues who remains on the run—both Collins and King voted for an amendment that critics say will make it easier for U.S. veterans with mental illness to keep or get guns. The measure passed 53-45.
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One in Four US Senators Still Hold Fossil Fuel Investments Even as World Burns
Reporting reveals the households of at least 28 senators own a combined minimum of $3.7 million and as much as $12.6 million in fossil fuel assets.
Nov 05, 2021
As President Joe Biden aims to assure the world that the United States will fulfill its promise to slash its greenhouse gas emissions in half from 2005 levels by the end of the decade, a new report published Friday reveals that the members of the U.S. Senate who would have to pass climate legislation are heavily invested in the fossil fuel industry.
Sludge reports the households of at least 28 U.S. senators--in both the Democratic and Republican caucuses--hold a combined minimum of $3.7 million and as much as $12.6 million in fossil fuel investments.
According to the report:
Of the 28 senators, at least 20 hold publicly traded stocks in companies like oil supermajor Chevron, pipeline giant Enterprise Products, or electric utility NextEra that belong to trade associations that are lobbying Congress against taking up strong legislation to curb polluting emissions.
Five senators are invested in energy funds built around oil and gas assets, and three own nonpublic stock in private fossil fuel companies. The investments, held by the senators, their spouse, jointly, or a dependent, are disclosed to the Senate Office of Public Records in very broad ranges and often buried in hundreds of pages of scanned paper forms, making a more precise count of their total value impossible.
At least half a dozen of the senators sit on environment- or climate-related committees. The household of Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)--who has worked incessantly to destroy or dilute climate action in the Build Back Better Act and beyond--has received over $1 million in income from Enersystems, a coal brokerage firm the senator founded in the 1980s.
According to Sludge, Manchin "has stripped the Democrats' budget reconciliation bill of major climate programs that would have transitioned coal-fired plants like the one where the company, now run by his son, holds a prime fuel services contract," while the committee he chairs "also added more than $11.3 billion in funding to the bipartisan infrastructure bill that could benefit his family company's niche waste coal industry."
Other Democratic senators whose households are heavily invested in fossil fuels include:
- John Hickenlooper (Col.) holds up to $1 million in investments in Chevron and other polluters;
- Tom Carper (Del.) owns as much as $274,000 in Chevron and Duke Energy shares;
- Gary Peters (Mich.) has up to $355,000 in NextEra, DTE Energy, and Pacific Gas & Electric stock in his portfolio; and
- The wife of Angus King--a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats--owns up to $50,000 worth of NextEra shares.
Earlier this year, Common Dreams reported that six Democratic senators--Manchin, Chris Coons (Del.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), and Jon Tester (Mont.)--have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in combined campaign contributions from fossil fuel corporations, some of which have touted their purported support for climate action, over the past decade.
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Caving to NRA and Pro-Gun Democrats, Biden Withdraws ATF Nominee
"The White House's decision—and choice—to not put up a fight to confirm David Chipman to head the ATF is a significant failure that undermines the promises President Biden made while running for office."
Sep 09, 2021
Gun control advocates expressed outrage Thursday after the White House withdrew its nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives--a move critics said offered the latest illustration of the gun lobby's grip on lawmakers from both major political parties.
The Republican Party was unified in its opposition to David Chipman, a former special agent at ATF and senior policy advisor at Giffords, the gun control advocacy group founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, but it was ultimately three centrist members of the Democratic caucus who reportedly stood in the way of the nomination.
"It is hugely disappointing and unconscionable that 50 members of the U.S. Senate as well as at least one senator who caucuses with the president's party would deny President Biden his choice to lead the ATF."
--Kris Brown, Brady
Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Angus King (I-Maine) reportedly faced pressure from pro-gun lobbyists in their home states, with King telling the White House in recent weeks that he would not support Chipman, according to the New York Times.
The White House needed the entire Democratic caucus to support the nominee to secure Chipman's confirmation.
Advocates who were hoping the bureau charged with regulating the gun industry would have its first Senate-confirmed director in six years expressed anger over the withdrawal.
"We have weak people serving in the Senate such as Sen. Angus King, who chose to listen to 'regulated industry,'" said Fred Guttenberg, a strong Biden supporter whose daughter was killed in the Parkland, Florida school shooting in 2018. "Sadly the White House failed to put up a fight on this."
"The White House's decision--and choice--to not put up a fight to confirm David Chipman to head the ATF is a significant failure that undermines the promises President Biden made while running for office," said Igor Volsky of Guns Down America. "We need Biden's leadership to address this crisis--and we need it now."
Chipman, who is a gun owner, has expressed support for universal background checks for gun purchasers, a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons like those that have been used in numerous mass shootings in recent years, and limits on high-capacity magazines.
At a 2019 congressional hearing, Chipman told lawmakers the federal government, in developing gun control legislation, must find a balance between "the rights of individuals and the rights of all Americans, and a human right not to get shot."
"Our nation's current gun violence crisis has made two things very clear: one, it is far too easy for violent people to get their hands on violent weapons," he added. "Two, the American people overwhelmingly want Congress to act now to make their communities safer."
A majority of Americans believe gun laws should be more strict, including 86% who support universal background checks and about 60% who support an assault weapon ban, according to Gallup.
Nearly 370 people were killed in mass shootings in the U.S. in the first half of 2021. Newsweek reported in March that the AR-15, the popular semi-automatic rifle that the NRA has marketed as "America's rifle," had been used in 26% of the 80 most recent mass shootings in the United States.
Amid the rising death toll of gun violence, the powerful gun lobby has successfully de-fanged the ATF, lobbying in the early 2000s to ensure the agency director needed to be confirmed by the Senate and then blocking all but one nominee ever put forward by the White House. The NRA has also pressured Congress to cut the ATF's budget and impose restrictions on how it regulates the gun industry. The organization celebrated its "huge victory" as Chipman's nomination was withdrawn.
On Thursday, the White House focused on the Republican Party's opposition to Chipman's nomination.
"He would have been an exemplary Director of the ATF and would have redoubled its efforts to crack down on illegal firearms traffickers and help keep our communities safe from gun violence," Biden said in a statement. "Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have made clear that they intend to use gun crime as a political talking point instead of taking serious steps to address it."
Advocates, however, made clear their deep disappointment with the president's own party.
"It is hugely disappointing and unconscionable that 50 members of the U.S. Senate as well as at least one senator who caucuses with the president's party would deny President Biden his choice to lead the ATF," Kris Brown, president of the gun control group Brady, said in a statement. "It is immoral and indefensible that the only agency with regulatory oversight over the gun industry has been permitted to persist for so many years without leadership, because of the outsized influence the gun industry has."
In Yet Another Threat to Dems' Agenda, Manchin Opposes DC Statehood Bill
"Over the course of U.S. history, we've added 37 states," said one expert who pushed back against the senator's position. "Not a single one required a constitutional amendment."
Apr 30, 2021
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia bolstered his impedimentary pedigree on Friday by becoming the first Democratic senator to publicly oppose legislation that would make Washington, D.C. the nation's 51st state.
D.C. statehood would not only end "taxation without representation" for the capital's approximately 700,000 residents, it would also boost Manchin's own party's political fortunes as the city's residents overwhelmingly vote Democratic. Following last week's passage of the Washington, D.C. Admissions Act (H.R. 51) by the House of Representatives, voting rights advocates demanded the Senate follow suit.
However, despite having 51 votes in the upper chamber, the faltering foursome of Democratic caucus members--Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Independent Angus King of Maine, and Manchin--who oppose or have yet to signal their support for statehood-by-legislation pose a potentially mortal threat to D.C.'s hopes.
From opposing the $15 federal minimum wage, higher corporate taxes, and the pro-democracy reforms of the For the People Act, to preserving the filibuster and the fossil fuel industry, Manchin has earned a reputation among progressives as an obstructionist to rival the most intransigent Republican.
During a Friday morning press call, Manchin told reporters in his home state that he believes making the nation's capital a state would require a constitutional amendment. Discussing H.R. 51, Manchin invoked former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in saying that the measure "complicates D.C.'s pathway to statehood." The senator said:
Congress had three options to choose from back in 1961. They could either have D.C. statehood, they could have retrocession to Maryland... or they could have granted electoral votes to D.C.... Congress selected, at that time, option three... Kennedy said in 1963 that Congress and the states embodied this choice in the form of a constitutional amendment.
Hence, it is arguable that the choice can now be reconsidered only by means of another constitutional amendment. He said that we are a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and it seems to me that's who should be answering this question. Let the American people decide.
The people, according to a March poll by Data for Progress and Democracy for All 2021, support D.C. statehood. Over half (54%) of all survey respondents said they favored statehood, including 74% of Democrats, 51% of Independents, and 34% of Republicans. That is the highest level of support for the policy recorded to date.
"The people who elected President [Joe] Biden and Democrats in Congress recognize that making D.C. a state is critical to the fight for racial justice and civil rights in this country," Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement after the poll's publication.
Last week, the White House formally endorsed D.C. statehood, with its Office of Management and Budget declaring the move "will make our union stronger and more just."
In a Friday Chicago Sun-Times opinion piece, civil rights icon, two-time Democratic presidential candidate, and longtime D.C. statehood supporter Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. argued that racism and Republican fear of losing power are behind opposition to making the district a state, and that doing so is a matter of fundamental fairness.
"The case for D.C. statehood is clear," he wrote. "The nation was founded in protest against taxation without representation. D.C. residents are denied voting representation in the House and Senate."
"The nation is shamed by military service without representation," Jackson added. "D.C. residents have fought in wars going back to the Revolutionary War and yet have no representatives to vote in favor or against those wars. America, which claims to lead democracies across the world, denies the foundation of democracy to more than 700,000 citizens in the nation's capital."
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