Kevin McCarthy’s Rise In House GOP Leadership: A Story Of Missteps, Reversals & Out Of Touch Policy Positions

Kevin McCarthy’s Rise In House GOP Leadership: A Story Of Missteps, Reversals & Out Of Touch Policy Positions   
 

Today, ahead of the House Republican Caucus’ election for the next Speaker of the House, Bridge Project is releasing new research that reveals what’s hidden in Kevin McCarthy’s past. As McCarthy has risen from a member of the California State Assembly to House Republican leadership, his record and rhetoric have changed significantly. 

Buried not-so-deep in McCarthy’s short political career are a series of gaffes, missteps, reversals, and policy positions that would sink most politicians. Read the research here, but first, a few highlights:

McCarthy referred to budget deficits as “cancer” and said said cuts that focused mostly on services to the poor and disabled were akin to a “painful” session of “chemo.”

In 2011 and 2014, McCarthy voted to raise the debt ceiling. Ahead of the 2014 vote, McCarthy organized a field trip to the Bureau of […]

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NEW REPORT: Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Men: The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce

Backing Corporate Greed At The Expense Of Working Families & Small Businesses

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce claims to represent millions of businesses “of all sizes, sectors, and regions,” but the reality is the Chamber mainly speaks for large corporations whose interests clash with small family businesses and working families.

Bridge Project’s latest report, “Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Men: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Backing Corporate Greed At The Expense Of Working Families & Small Businesses,” reveals how the U.S. Chamber puts the interests of oil and gas companies, Wall Street, Big Tobacco, and for-profit colleges first and spends millions to elect candidates that back their anti-working families platform.

As revealed in the report, the Chamber opposes regulations that protect working families and small businesses, such as buy local mandates, minimum wage increases, Wall Street financial reform, equal pay, and paid leave. Instead, the corporate front group advocates destructive policies that hurt the environment, our […]

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NEW REPORT: The Kochs’ Campaign To Privatize And Make More Money Off Our Public Lands

Bridge Project today releases a new report, “The Kochs’ Campaign to Privatize and Make More Money Off Our Public Lands,” exposing the Koch campaign to seize America’s national treasures and drain their resources — rinse and repeat.

The end of September saw the expiration of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). And, though it went less covered than the barely-avoided, GOP-advocated government shutdown, the potential implications of the program’s lapse are staggering. Millions of acres of land, from parks and trails, to wildlife refugees and forests, are protected by the LWCF — but that will all change should Congress fail to renew the program — if Charles and David Koch get their way.

The Koch brothers and their big-industry allies have for years had their sights on the development of federal public lands — where they currently face legal restrictions on exploration and leasing. ALEC, the Kochs’ lobbying vehicle for […]

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NEW REPORT: Koch Rush In The Silver State

It’s not just presidential candidates who are putting in more time in Nevada. As the Silver State’s political capital increases, so does the Koch brothers’ interest in investing. The billionaire brothers have long appeared to have money to burn, and what better place to strike it rich (again) than the home of Las Vegas? After all, the Kochs were never going to sit back and let Sheldon Adelson have all the fun — it’s not in their nature.

 

Today, Bridge Project is releasing a new report entitiled, “Koch Rush In The Silver State,” a deep dive into the Koch brothers’ efforts to gain political control of Nevada. The combined draw of natural resources and favorable tax policies brought Koch Industries to the state. Now, just as they’ve done in states across the country, the Kochs are using their massive wealth to rig Nevada in their favor. 

 

Through the State Policy Network’s Nevada […]

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Six Days Until GOP Shuts Down The Government Again, Republicans Ignore Consequences For Real Americans

Despite promise after promise from Republicans in Congress that there would be no more shutdowns and they would stop governing crisis by crisis, we are less than one week away from another irresponsible Republican government shutdown. In their willingness to shut down the government over a partisan ultimatum to defund Planned Parenthood, the GOP is not only playing politics with women’s health, but with the millions Americans who would face the real consequences of a shutdown.

With just six days left for Republicans to avoid a shutdown, check out the coverage of how another GOP shutdown would harm the economy, endanger jobs, and result in damaging consequences for small businesses, seniors, students,  homeowners, and children:

Washington Post: Shuttering the government actually costs more than keeping it open — more than $2 billion last time 

“Lost work, back pay and wiped-out jobs for federal contractors and other private-sector workers loom as just some of the […]

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NEW REPORT: A Koch Confessional

Or How The Kochs Have Attacked Pope Francis While Pushing A Self-Enriching Agenda That’s On The Wrong Side Of The Holy Father

As Pope Francis arrives in Washington, Bridge Project is releasing a new report titled, “A Koch Confessional, Or How The Kochs Have Attacked Pope Francis While Pushing A Self-Enriching Agenda That’s On The Wrong Side Of The Holy Father.”

The Kochs are terrified of the pope’s teachings because they threaten what the billionaire brothers worship most, their bank accounts. Bridge Project’s new report, reveals how the Koch network has attacked Pope Francis and targeted his teachings on the economy, immigration, climate change, fair pay, and more.

At the crux of the differences between the billionaire Koch brothers and Pope Francis is their starkly contrasting world views. While the pope has pleaded for his followers to reject the “trickle-down” policies championed by billionaires like the Kochs, and pushed immigration as a “hallmark for our society,” the Kochs have […]

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NEW REPORT: The Elephant In The Room

The Pope Addresses A GOP-Controlled Congress Opposed To His Progressive Values

This Thursday, all eyes will be on Pope Francis for his historic and much anticipated address to a joint meeting of Congress. But before the pope arrived in the United States, Republicans already started picking fights and attacking the pope’s teachings.

In advance of the pope’s address, Bridge Project is releasing a new report titled, “The Elephant In The Room: The Pope Address A GOP-Controlled Congress Opposed To His Progressive Values.

Since the start of his papacy, Pope Francis has signaled a shift in focus for the church towards protecting “the least of these,” whether it’s through the stewardship of our environment or addressing income inequality and providing a livable wage. Republicans’ policy views continue to move further and further to the right, and the pope is finally calling them on it.

On countless issues, the GOP’s policy positions go against the pope’s teaching. Bridge Project’s latest report examines how on the following issues, the GOP’s […]

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NEW REPORT: Conservatives’ Road Map To Another Republican Government Shutdown

When Republicans took control of Congress nine months ago, they promised an end to the divisions and intra-party bickering that caused the 2013 government shutdown. New Majority Leader Mitch McConnell even declared on his watch, there would be “no government shutdowns and no default on the national debt.”

But, here we are, just over two weeks from another Republican government shutdown with the GOP remaining fractured over the simplest of issues. As a new poll  shows that 71% of Americans want Congress to avoid a government shutdown, the GOP majority has yet to present a plan, or to even unify around a promise to not force the government to shut down for the second time in two years. 

Bridge Project’s latest report, “Conservatives’ Road Map To Another Republican Government Shutdown,” examines how conservatives have written their own path to another irresponsible Republican-led government shutdown.

The report delves into:

How Republican leadership promised to […]

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NEW REPORT: The Kochs’ Rocky Mountain High

David and Charles Koch are turning states across the country into their own political playgrounds, using their billions to influence policy to suit their business and personal needs, and Colorado, where they own an Aspen mansion, is one of the most prolific examples. Together with their network of dark money groups, the Koch brothers are fighting to impose policies that fit their agenda while hurting middle-class Colorado families.

Today, Bridge Project is releasing a new report titled, “The Kochs’ Rocky Mountain High,” a comprehensive look at the impact of the Kochs’ operations in Colorado.

The Kochs treat Colorado as a personal, political, and business playground, but the games they play challenge the ability of Coloradans to govern their own state, put at risk the livelihoods of the state’s residents, and jeopardize the natural beauty that defines Colorado.

The report delves into:

The Kochs’ private donor retreats in Aspen and Vail, where they discussed the “threat” of unions, climate regulations, […]

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NEW REPORT: Ten Years Later: A Look Back On The Koch Brothers & Hurricane Katrina

As the country marks the ten-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation that came with it, Bridge Project is releasing a report that delves into Koch Industries’ role in the most expensive natural disaster in American history. The report explores how the company both contributed to the damages and took advantage of the situation to increase their profits.

The Koch brothers’ driving philosophy is to put their business interests ahead of everything else — as long as they’re growing their bottom line, nothing, and no one else, matters. Bridge Project’s report entitled, “Ten Years Later: A Look Back On The Koch Brothers & Hurricane Katrina,” looks at how that philosophy compounded the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The report also covers their more recent efforts to push policies that can be detrimental to residents of high risk flood areas.

The report looks at:

The Kochs’ destruction of the wetlands that compounded […]

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