A small group of conservative Democratic lawmakers has been threatening to help Republicans stop Democratic Party‘The budget package has received more than $3 million from donors in the pharmaceutical and fossil fuel industries, and if the plan is passed, the profits of these industries may be reduced.
As the House of Representatives reconvened today to resolve the budget reconciliation process, the nine Democrats have pledged to cancel their party’s $3.5 trillion budget bill until Congress First, a separate, smaller infrastructure spending measure was passed, which gained some support from the Republican Party.
“If we don’t present the infrastructure package first, we will vote against the budget resolution,” Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer told Congress Washington post This weekend, despite a report by American Outlook on Sunday, “several” lawmakers now say they can make concessions.
J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press Photo
In a divided House of Representatives, the obstruction of these conservative Democrats may decouple infrastructure and budget measures. Many people believe that involving conservative Democrats will kill the latter. Senate For example, Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) Get the infrastructure bill they want without having to provide the votes needed to make larger and more progressive budget measures.
“If we want to pass the two parties [infrastructure] First the bill, and then we lost our influence,” Democratic Rep. Rich Torres (New York) told the Wall Street Journal.
The other eight Democrats who threatened to obstruct the budget bill with Gottheimer are Carolyn Bordeaux (Georgia), Ed Case (Hawaii), Jim Costa (California), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Jared Golden (Myanmar) State), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Kurt Schrader (Oregon) and Fileman Vela (Texas). The U.S. Chamber of Commerce-Washington’s most powerful corporate lobby group-has been broadcasting digital advertisements, thanking the nine Democrats for their actions.
Eight of the nine Democrats represent congressional districts won by the president Joe Biden, Who supports and unpacks.
Big ally of large pharmaceutical companies
The settlement bill is still being negotiated, and many Democratic lawmakers-including those in key swing districts-are pushing it into long-term pledged legislation that allows Medicare to use its huge purchasing power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs. The pharmaceutical industry actively lobbied against the initiative, and the Congressional Budget Office estimated that this would save medical insurance $345 billion in medical costs.
According to data compiled by OpenSecrets, the nine House Democrats who threatened to disrupt the settlement bill have raised nearly $1.2 million from donors in the pharmaceutical and health product industries.
Two of them Democratic PartyThe biggest beneficiaries of funding for the healthcare industry: Gottheimer (US$228,186) and Schrader (US$614,830).Schrader’s third largest professional donor is PfizerThe Political Action Committee, his former chief of staff is now a registered lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association, a major lobbying group in the pharmaceutical industry.
Gottheimer and Schrader signed a letter earlier this year attacking Democratic leaders’ legislation to reduce prescription drug prices.
Eight of the nine Democrats who threatened to cancel the budget bill also refused to support the Democratic Party’s independent legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.
In the Senate, Sinema again threatened to veto the final settlement bill after she received $519,000 from donors in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
Threats to fossil fuel donors
Similarly, although many environmental organizations and experts say that the infrastructure bill may promote the development of the fossil fuel industry and make the climate crisis worse, more ambitious budget settlement legislation is considered to be the country’s transition from fossil fuels and combating climate emergencies. .
The Senate Democrats’ report explaining the bill stated that the bill includes instructions to establish a “methane polluter fee to reduce carbon emissions” and a “carbon polluter import fee”-both of which may hit oil and gas companies.
Democratic leaders are also considering using the settlement bill to pass a measure that may force oil and gas companies to pay $500 billion in losses for past carbon pollution.
The nine Democrats who threatened to help the Republicans cancel the settlement bill have already withdrawn nearly $2.5 million from donors in the oil and gas industry.
The legislator’s group includes the party’s largest fossil fuel cash recipients such as Cuellar ($1 million) and Gonzalez ($242,006) in Texas, Costa ($637,979) and Schrader, Oregon (US$279,000).
This summer, large-scale forest fires ravaged the West Coast states of Costa and Schrader, and caused poor air quality in the hometown of Cuellar and Gonzalez. Experts say climate change has exacerbated this. Disaster.
