Hallelujah! House Dems Tackling Corporate Power! - La Cueva

http://www.truth-out.org/dems-take-supreme-courts-giant-sellout-our-democracy-corporations61836

Much to the delight of progressives, some House Democrats are pushing a flurry of legislation to combat corporate power in light of the Supreme Court's Citizen's United decision earlier this year:

I'm especially interested in HR 4432, one of the three bill Alan Grayson (D-FL) has authored. It requires corporations to disclose anything it does re the political process. This is long overdue. Corporations, especially since the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act after WWII, have used propaganda to get its way in terms of legislation. This bill will throw some light on it.

More Re Citizen's United: Right after the decision John Nichols wrote that some unions applauded this decision, curious in light of the fact that corporations have such a tremendous financial advantage over them; that if Goldman-Sachs, a single corporation, allocated what it pays its top employees annually, to one campaign, it would equal the combined assets of the four largest unions. Hopefully in the days since then those unions have reconsidered their position...

BP. It is using prison labor in the clean-up of the Gulf of Mexico and is getting tax breaks, too. Yeah, I'd be a bit pissed off if I had my shrimping/fishing business trashed, then saw that...

Now members of Congress are fighting to push back against the ruling on a number of fronts. Grayson has introduced a flurry of legislation, including the Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act (HR 4431), which would impose a hefty tax on corporate campaign contributions in federal races; the Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act (HR 4432), which requires financial firms to disclose any contributions to federal candidates that exceed $1,000, and the End the Hijacking of Shareholder Funds Act (HR 4487), which requires shareholders to vote on any corporate expenditures that are meant to influence public opinion about anything other than their products and services.

The DISCLOSE Act (HR 5175), sponsored by Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, passed the House last month, but was killed by a unified GOP this week. DISCLOSE would have “required organizations involved in political campaigning to disclose the identity of the large donors, and to reveal their identities in any political ads they fund. It would also bar foreign corporations, government contractors and TARP recipients from making political expenditures.” After the vote, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said, “This is a sad day for our democracy. Not only does the Supreme Court give those special interests a huge advantage, but [now the Senate] says they should do it all in secret without any disclosure. That … eats at the very fabric of our democracy. It makes our people feel powerless and angry."