DEMOCRATS SIGNAL SUSTAINED PUSH TO REVEAL KOCH CAPTURE OF EXECUTIVE AGENCIES
Senators cite Koch brothers report outlining influence over federal government and long list of attacks on American workers and families
Whitehouse, Markey, Cortez Masto, Wyden, Warren, Udall: ‘Americans have a right to know if special interests are unduly influencing public policy decisions that have profound implications for public health, the environment, and the economy’
Washington, DC – In a series of letters, Senate Democrats are demanding answers from President Donald Trump and cabinet officials about the Koch brothers’ sweeping infiltration of the Trump administration. The Senators’ demands are based on a December report to the wealthy donors of the Kochs’ Seminar Network detailing a series of policy wins benefitting Koch businesses and the billionaires themselves. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Tom Udall (D-NM) signed the letters to Trump and agency heads asking for documents that shed light on how the Kochs and their sophisticated network of front groups and operatives have manipulated Americans’ government.
“Americans have a right to know if special interests are unduly influencing public policy decisions that have profound implications for public health, the environment, and the economy,” the Senators write in their letters.
The Senators’ letters begin a broader effort to reveal the extent of the Koch brothers’ influence within the administration. Next week, Whitehouse will lead a group of Senators in speeches on the Senate floor detailing the web of Koch-funded front groups advocating for business-friendly policies, sowing doubt in the public debate on important issues, and planting operatives within the halls of government.
The Kochs’ report outlines a range of extreme policies the Trump administration has executed or pursued, including undermining the Affordable Care Act and programs that provide health care to millions of Americans; attacks on essential environmental protections that ensure the health and safety of all Americans; eroding workers’ right to organize for better pay and working conditions; stacking federal courts with radical conservative judges to deliver consistently for the wealthy and corporations; privatizing the Department of Veterans Affairs; threating the promise of health care for our servicemembers and veterans; and a wildly unfair tax proposal designed to benefit the wealthiest few.
In addition to the White House, the Senators’ letters went to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Leandra English, Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie, and National Labor Relations Board Chairman Marvin Kaplan.
The Senators’ letter to Trump is below. PDF copies of the letters are available here:
· EPA
· OMB
· CFPB
· VA
· NLRB
