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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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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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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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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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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