In Congress, Christmas Is a Time of Giving - and Receiving
Sunday, 13 December 2015 00:00 By Michael Winship, Moyers & Company | Op-Ed
The Capitol Christmas tree, seen after House Speaker John Boehner lit it up
in front of the US Capitol in Washington, on December 6, 2011. (Photo:
Philip Scott Andrews / The New York Times)
I was planning to write a festive poem to Congress as they approach their
merry holiday recess but couldn't come up with a rhyme for "dysfunctional."
Writing in Monday's Washington Post, Greg Sargent noted that all that
inertia on Capitol Hill has been caused "less by a roughly equivalent
failure by both major parties to make the incremental concessions needed to
reach common ground, and more by a searing intra-GOP argument over whether
the Republican Party should make such concessions to reach the common ground
that has always been sitting right there in plain sight."
Citing Ryan Lizza's superb analysis of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus
in The New Yorker this week, Sargent writes that the radical caucus members
believe, "Republicans lose ground when they govern along with Democrats,
because achieving bipartisan governing compromise inherently represents
capitulation to Dems, in the sense that when government functions, it
affirms the Dem vision."
To see more stories like this, visit Moyers & Company at Truthout.
It's really a profound pity - tragic, in fact, and deadly dangerous to
democracy. In an alternative universe, I could see senators and House
members racing home to spend holiday time with friends and family, drinking
hot cocoa with peppermint sticks, making snow angels and redistributing
their campaign contributions to the poor. Instead, they will spend much of
the off time plotting on behalf of or against the lunacy of the right
(refueled each day by Fox, talk radio and a hyperventilating Trump, Cruz,
Carson and Rubio) while hitting up donors and listening to their requests
for all the favors expected in return. Even Santa couldn't keep track of
their list.
For this is the one thing on which both Democrats and Republicans agree: in
this time of good tidings when you care enough to give the very best, a
little something tucked away in legislation in exchange for campaign
largesse is, as my Texas mother used to say, better than black-eyed peas on
New Year's.
Look, for example, at Michigan Republican Congressman Fred Upton and Alaska
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, chairs, respectively, of the House and
Senate energy committees. For them, Christmas came a little early this year.
At International Business Times last month, David Sirota and Andrew Perez
reported that during the summer Upton and Murkowski "launched a so-called
joint fundraising committee, a campaign war chest that would accept
donations from a range of contributors, with the proceeds divided between
the two lawmakers." It happened to coincide with the fossil fuel industry's
hope for "a measure limiting the authority of local communities to slow the
construction of pipelines because of environmental concerns.
.Executives at one of the nation's largest natural gas pipeline companies
soon deposited more than $80,750 into the joint fund's coffers. The very
next day, Upton delivered on the industry's aspirations: He rushed a bill
through his legislative panel that would not only streamline the approval
process for new pipelines but also empower federal officials to impose tight
deadlines on state and local governments seeking to review their potential
environmental impacts.
The company in question is Dallas-based Energy Transfer, which runs 71,000
miles of pipeline, a Louisiana export terminal and recently announced a
merger with the Williams Companies, a combination that "would create one of
the world's largest energy companies."
This isn't the only natural gas and oil legislation Upton and his pal
Murkowski have helped ease through their committees. So it's probably not
for nothing that over the course of his congressional career, Upton has
received $789,350 from the oil and gas industry, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics. Since 1989, Murkowski has pulled in $812,494.
Larry Noble of the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center told Sirota and Perez,
"Raising money from an industry at the same time a bill is being considered
raises all sorts of appearance issues. There have been real ethics problems
with that, because the obvious implication is that the money is being given
to help you decide how to vote on a bill."
Then there's Howard Milstein, chairman of New York's Emigrant Savings Bank.
Three and a half years ago, Bill Moyers and I wrote about how during the
financial meltdown the bank "borrowed money that by the end of 2009 raised
its worth beyond $15 billion. This triggered a Dodd-Frank provision
requiring the bank to liquidate some of its assets."
What did Chairman Milstein do? He called a friendly congressman. Then-New
York Republican Representative Michael Grimm, "with the bipartisan backing
of members of the House Financial Services Committee, including Democratic
ranking member Barney Frank (as in Dodd-Frank), introduced a one-sentence
bill - that's right, one sentence - moving the cutoff date to March 31,
2010, when the bank's assets had slipped back under $15 billion." That would
create a savings for Emigrant of $300 million in capital.
We noted then that Grimm had received a generous contribution to his
re-election campaign from Millstein, as did New York Democratic
Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Carolyn McCarthy and Gregory Meeks, all of
whom co-sponsored Grimm's legislation.
But a funny thing happened on the way to a quorum. The media spotlight
seemed to scare away support and then Michael Grimm was forced to resign
after pleading guilty to felony tax fraud. His bill blew off the
congressional porch.
No worries, though. The tenacious Millstein and his faithful lobbyists in
their K Street toyshops kept pushing and lo and behold, back from the dead,
there's his multimillion dollar Emigrant loophole in last week's bipartisan
highway funding bill. And here's a coincidence: As reported by Zach Carter,
The Huffington Post's senior political economy reporter, "Bank vice chairman
Harriet Edelman has given $3,000 to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) since the
2014 elections. Over the same time period, Howard Milstein, his wife Abby
and their son Michael have given $16,200 to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and
$5,400 to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). In the 2012 cycle, Howard and Abby
gave $10,000 to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
Such campaign finance figures are typically associated with shepherding a
bill through a committee - not ensuring that they actually become law. But
Shelby, Wyden, Schumer and Brown were all part of the highway bill
negotiating team. After Democrats fought off GOP efforts to defang broader
Dodd-Frank policies, they let the Emigrant provision slide.
Yes, it's a holiday miracle at this most wonderful time of the year. God
bless us, every one.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not
be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
MICHAEL WINSHIP
Michael Winship is an Emmy Award-winning writer, and served as senior writer
of the public television series "Moyers & Company." He is also a senior
writing fellow at the public policy and advocacy group Demos, and the
president of Writers Guild of America, East.
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In Congress, Christmas Is a Time of Giving - and Receiving
Sunday, 13 December 2015 00:00 By Michael Winship, Moyers & Company | Op-Ed
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. The Capitol Christmas tree, seen after House Speaker John Boehner
lit it up in front of the US Capitol in Washington, on December 6, 2011.
(Photo: Philip Scott Andrews / The New York Times)
. I was planning to write a festive poem to Congress as they approach
their merry holiday recess but couldn't come up with a rhyme for
"dysfunctional."
Writing in Monday's Washington Post, Greg Sargent noted that all that
inertia on Capitol Hill has been caused "less by a roughly equivalent
failure by both major parties to make the incremental concessions needed to
reach common ground, and more by a searing intra-GOP argument over whether
the Republican Party should make such concessions to reach the common ground
that has always been sitting right there in plain sight."
Citing Ryan Lizza's superb analysis of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus
in The New Yorker this week, Sargent writes that the radical caucus members
believe, "Republicans lose ground when they govern along with Democrats,
because achieving bipartisan governing compromise inherently represents
capitulation to Dems, in the sense that when government functions, it
affirms the Dem vision."
To see more stories like this, visit Moyers & Company at Truthout.
It's really a profound pity - tragic, in fact, and deadly dangerous to
democracy. In an alternative universe, I could see senators and House
members racing home to spend holiday time with friends and family, drinking
hot cocoa with peppermint sticks, making snow angels and redistributing
their campaign contributions to the poor. Instead, they will spend much of
the off time plotting on behalf of or against the lunacy of the right
(refueled each day by Fox, talk radio and a hyperventilating Trump, Cruz,
Carson and Rubio) while hitting up donors and listening to their requests
for all the favors expected in return. Even Santa couldn't keep track of
their list.
For this is the one thing on which both Democrats and Republicans agree: in
this time of good tidings when you care enough to give the very best, a
little something tucked away in legislation in exchange for campaign
largesse is, as my Texas mother used to say, better than black-eyed peas on
New Year's.
Look, for example, at Michigan Republican Congressman Fred Upton and Alaska
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, chairs, respectively, of the House and
Senate energy committees. For them, Christmas came a little early this year.
At International Business Times last month, David Sirota and Andrew Perez
reported that during the summer Upton and Murkowski "launched a so-called
joint fundraising committee, a campaign war chest that would accept
donations from a range of contributors, with the proceeds divided between
the two lawmakers." It happened to coincide with the fossil fuel industry's
hope for "a measure limiting the authority of local communities to slow the
construction of pipelines because of environmental concerns.
.Executives at one of the nation's largest natural gas pipeline companies
soon deposited more than $80,750 into the joint fund's coffers. The very
next day, Upton delivered on the industry's aspirations: He rushed a bill
through his legislative panel that would not only streamline the approval
process for new pipelines but also empower federal officials to impose tight
deadlines on state and local governments seeking to review their potential
environmental impacts.
The company in question is Dallas-based Energy Transfer, which runs 71,000
miles of pipeline, a Louisiana export terminal and recently announced a
merger with the Williams Companies, a combination that "would create one of
the world's largest energy companies."
This isn't the only natural gas and oil legislation Upton and his pal
Murkowski have helped ease through their committees. So it's probably not
for nothing that over the course of his congressional career, Upton has
received $789,350 from the oil and gas industry, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics. Since 1989, Murkowski has pulled in $812,494.
Larry Noble of the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center told Sirota and Perez,
"Raising money from an industry at the same time a bill is being considered
raises all sorts of appearance issues. There have been real ethics problems
with that, because the obvious implication is that the money is being given
to help you decide how to vote on a bill."
Then there's Howard Milstein, chairman of New York's Emigrant Savings Bank.
Three and a half years ago, Bill Moyers and I wrote about how during the
financial meltdown the bank "borrowed money that by the end of 2009 raised
its worth beyond $15 billion. This triggered a Dodd-Frank provision
requiring the bank to liquidate some of its assets."
What did Chairman Milstein do? He called a friendly congressman. Then-New
York Republican Representative Michael Grimm, "with the bipartisan backing
of members of the House Financial Services Committee, including Democratic
ranking member Barney Frank (as in Dodd-Frank), introduced a one-sentence
bill - that's right, one sentence - moving the cutoff date to March 31,
2010, when the bank's assets had slipped back under $15 billion." That would
create a savings for Emigrant of $300 million in capital.
We noted then that Grimm had received a generous contribution to his
re-election campaign from Millstein, as did New York Democratic
Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Carolyn McCarthy and Gregory Meeks, all of
whom co-sponsored Grimm's legislation.
But a funny thing happened on the way to a quorum. The media spotlight
seemed to scare away support and then Michael Grimm was forced to resign
after pleading guilty to felony tax fraud. His bill blew off the
congressional porch.
No worries, though. The tenacious Millstein and his faithful lobbyists in
their K Street toyshops kept pushing and lo and behold, back from the dead,
there's his multimillion dollar Emigrant loophole in last week's bipartisan
highway funding bill. And here's a coincidence: As reported by Zach Carter,
The Huffington Post's senior political economy reporter, "Bank vice chairman
Harriet Edelman has given $3,000 to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) since the
2014 elections. Over the same time period, Howard Milstein, his wife Abby
and their son Michael have given $16,200 to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and
$5,400 to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). In the 2012 cycle, Howard and Abby
gave $10,000 to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
Such campaign finance figures are typically associated with shepherding a
bill through a committee - not ensuring that they actually become law. But
Shelby, Wyden, Schumer and Brown were all part of the highway bill
negotiating team. After Democrats fought off GOP efforts to defang broader
Dodd-Frank policies, they let the Emigrant provision slide.
Yes, it's a holiday miracle at this most wonderful time of the year. God
bless us, every one.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not
be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
Michael Winship
Michael Winship is an Emmy Award-winning writer, and served as senior writer
of the public television series "Moyers & Company." He is also a senior
writing fellow at the public policy and advocacy group Demos, and the
president of Writers Guild of America, East.
Related Stories
Holiday Greeting: No Peace Without Justice
By L. Michael Hager, Truthout | Op-EdGiant Corporations, Giant Failures
By Richard D. Wolff, Truthout | News AnalysisWhat the GOP Is Putting Under
Corporate America's Tree
By Jessica Schieder, OtherWords | Op-Ed
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