Trump Admin Teams Up With Kochs To Sell Tax Cuts For Billionaires

Trump Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin today announced that he plans to campaign with Koch brothers front groups Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity to push for the Trump’s upcoming tax “reform” bill that’ll mean massive tax cuts for billionaires like Trump, the Kochs, and Trump’s biggest megadonors, including the Mercer and Adelson families.

WATCH:

Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips: Are you guys really ready to fight for this? […] We want to make sure that you guys are ready to join us on this…

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin: We are so ready. We’ve been ready since January 1.

“Of course the Trump Administration is teaming up with the Koch brothers to sell disproportionate tax cuts for billionaires as a win for working people,” said American Bridge VP Shripal Shah. “Like every other aspect of the Trump presidency, this tax plan is a huge scam. Trump and Republican donors will get […]

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NEW REPORT: The Koch Brothers’ Granite State Project

NEW REPORT: The Koch Brothers’ Granite State Project

How The Radical Agenda Of Out Of State Oil Billionaires Has Hurt New Hampshire

Charles and David Koch pour hundreds of millions of dollars into our political system to advance their self-enriching agenda and elect their puppet candidates. At the national, state, and local level, the Kochs use their unlimited resources to influence policy to suit their political and personal needs.

For decades, the Kochs and their network of dark money political front groups have been pushing the Koch agenda in New Hampshire — perhaps more than any other state in the country— which has benefitted billionaires like the Kochs at the expense of Granite Staters.

Today, Bridge Project is releasing a new report, The Koch Brothers’ Granite State Project: How The Radical Agenda Of Out Of State Oil Billionaires Has Hurt New Hampshire, which lays out the scope and […]

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NEW FOCUS GROUP RESEARCH: VOTERS ARE TURNED OFF BY THE KOCH AGENDA & THEIR PUPPET CANDIDATES

For Immediate Release:
November 20, 2015

NEW FOCUS GROUP RESEARCH: VOTERS ARE TURNED OFF BY THE KOCH AGENDA & THEIR PUPPET CANDIDATES

In August, Bridge Project conducted six focus groups with swing voters in Iowa, Florida, and Nevada on the billionaire Koch brothers as they gear up to spend nearly $900 million pushing their agenda and backing their puppet candidates in 2016.

The focus groups revealed that to know the Kochs is to dislike them and that voters are turned off by their harmful, self-enriching agenda. It’s clear to voters that when the Kochs spend millions propping up their puppet candidates, the Kochs “expect something in return.”

To read the focus group memo, click here: http://bp21.co/kochgroups.

“In the eyes of voters, the Kochs’ harmful, self-enriching agenda and the hundreds of millions they spend backing their puppet candidates are strong turnoffs,” said Eddie Vale, Vice President of American Bridge 21st Century. “This research clarifies how Democrats can fight back against […]

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Banking On Obstruction

Tonight at midnight, with the expiration of the Export-Import Bank, Republicans will put their quest for the Kochs’ support ahead of American jobs. The bank’s renewal would usually go without a hitch, but the Kochs’ huge lobbying push through Americans for Prosperity has thrown a wrench in an already dysfunctional GOP-led Congress. The Kochs’ (highly hypocritical) opposition to the bank is, like everything else they do, purely profit-driven. Their crusade against the bank is not fueled by free market values but greed. By dismantling the 81-year-old bank, Republicans are putting American jobs and the economy at risk, all because their billionaire puppet masters want to boost their bottom line.

Read more about the Kochs and the Ex-Im in the Bridge Project report, “Banking On Obstruction.”

What The Kochs Consider “Common Sense” Means More Health Risks For Americans

Increased risk of asthma attack, bronchitis, cardiovascular disease and, yes, premature death: These are some of the adverse health effects that the EPA cites in their call for mercury emissions regulations. But the Kochs continually disregard health risks to protect their profits.

In 2012, according to the U.S. Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, Koch Companies Public Sector – the lobbying arm of the brothers’ corporate empire – spent three out of four quarters lobbying on a resolution for the Senate to formally disapprove of the EPA’s MATS standards. So it comes as no surprise that the Koch-allied think tank, the Cato Institute, spiked the proverbial football after the Supreme Court ruled against the EPA’s MATS emission regulations in State of Michigan vs. EPA today.

In their press release Cato says the Supreme Court’s decision is a “clear victory for common sense.” How convenient that “common sense” rules in favor of their billionaire benefactors as well as the amicus brief that Cato submitted on Michigan’s behalf.

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Hold your horses — Kochs and GOP will continue to fight ACA

More than six million Americans are breathing a sigh of relief today knowing they’ll be able to keep their affordable health insurance, but the scene at Koch headquarters is undoubtedly whipping into a frenzy. They’re gearing up for the next fight to prevent Medicaid expansion in the states and getting ready to bark orders at GOP politicians like Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush eager to follow their lead.

For people who prioritize return on investment, today’s ruling dealt a huge blow to the Kochs, who spent millions to bring King v. Burwell to the Supreme Court and to stop Medicaid expansion.  Now more than ever, they will work with conservative state governments and GOP candidates to push their extreme agenda.

With this latest defeat, the Kochs and their Republican allies are setting their sights on next year’s court decisions and, of course, the White House.

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Florida Man Buys State: Koch Impacts in the Sunshine State

Through their decades in business and politics, Charles and David Koch have honed their methods for rigging the system in their favor, both through their national operations and activities. Their history in Florida is indicative of this overall multifaceted strategy, which includes lobbying and raising funds for politicians, using their advocacy network to sway public policy, and leveraging financial donations to universities to buy professors that promote their worldview. Time and time again, the Koch brothers’ self-interested actions proved to be beneficial to their bottom line at the expense of hardworking Floridians.

Read more after the jump.

NEW VIDEO: Bridge Project declares May as “Month’s Supply of Koch”

Starting with a spring 2014 expose on David Koch‘s libertarian run for president, Bridge Project has been committed to exposing the Koch brothers. In addition to the Real Koch Facts website — updated constantly with new information about the Kochs agenda and shady tactics — Bridge Project has released research on their efforts in states including Wisconsin and North Carolina. Now, the Kochs are set to spend almost $900 million this election and their invisible primary has Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul auditioning to be the most Koch-friendly candidate. In response, Bridge Project is dedicating the month of May to shining a light on the Koch brothers and their sprawling political organization, bringing you a “Month’s Supply of Koch.”

We’ll be building on our existing work and taking a deeper dive into new states and constituency groups. Since Charles Koch continues to insist that their political spending has nothing to do with boosting Koch Industries’ bottom line, he and David shouldn’t mind Bridge Project digging into their secretive right-wing operations.

Read more after the jump.

Conservative Transparency: A Look At The Organized Right In 2014

In the last election, conservative outside groups spent more than $800 million attempting to defeat President Obama and secure Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. The unprecedented flood of cash failed to produce results on Election Day, but right-leaning donors and conservative groups have not given up on their efforts to obstruct progressive governance and implement a right-wing agenda.

Heading into the 2014 midterms, the network of well-funded organizations that comprise the “conservative movement” is larger than ever. Led by Charles and David Koch, the conservative donor class has increased its investment in the think tanks and advocacy groups charged with formulating conservative policy ideas and electing a government that will implement them. However, while the Koch brothers are well known to most political observers, it can be difficult to keep track of all the relevant players.

Bridge Project is committed to keeping a watchful eye on the conservative movement – and Conservative Transparency, an interactive database that tracks the flow of money on the right, is central to that mission. In addition to documenting the reported political contributions of major individual donors, Conservative Transparency uses the publicly available tax filings of conservative foundations and charities to provide hard-to-find information about the money behind think tanks and politically active nonprofits that do not have to disclose the sources of their funding.

Read more after the jump.

California Future Fund for Free Markets: “Telephoto”

California Future Fund for Free Markets is breaking the irony barrier with an ad supporting Proposition 32, which purports to ban special interest money from state politics. The ad criticizes “deals cut in the shadows,” but CFFFM is funded entirely by a single $4 million donation from a similarly shadowy Iowa group that does not disclose donors but has ties to the Koch brothers. This hypocrisy has substantive implications as well: Prop 32 claims to end special interest spending in California politics, but leaves gaping loopholes for the billionaires who are funding the effort while cracking down much more tightly on union political spending.

Read more after the jump.