GOP sneaks provision into crucial spending bill to increase by 500% the contribution limit any one donor can give to political p

A major showdown has blown up in the Congress over a bill (called the Omnibus Spending Bill) to continue funding the government after tomorrow night (December 11). At the last moment today, Senator McConnell snuck in a provision that would increase by 500% the contribution limit any one donor can give to political parties and its associated committees. It’s bad enough donors can now give $259,200 in in an election cycle. If this bill passes, a single donor will be able to give $1,555,200 in one check. (The bill contains other giveaways – relieving government contractors of the requirement to disclose their political spending, gutting some core provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, cutting funding for the EPA and IRS, and exempting certain activities from Clean Water Act regulations.)
The Republicans aren't even in charge of Congress yet, and they're already wreaking havoc. Please call your senator first thing tomorrow morning and urge a vote against the Omnibus Spending bill, even if it means the government is temporarily closed.

By rjzip | 12/10/2014 04:51 PM | 10 comments

Comments are disabled for this blog post.

Read the bill. It's worst than that. All I can say is I hope you have a good job. I hope you are saving and spending your money wisely. I hope you are in good health. If the bill passes, the rich and in-control are going to become richer and more powerful. This is political corruption at it's best.

Del46 12/31/2014 07:01 AM

A. The American people, on the whole and compared to other "first world" countries, are stupid. Example: An Internet company used the same formula of what's popular in the U.S. (cat videos, celebrity "news," etc.) in Europe, and the Europeans were disinterested. It seems European Internet users would rather discuss the news, issues, and politics. Imagine that. Most American voters are even less informed about the issues than a cat is about the art of playing the piano.

B. Republican voters are delusional. I think it's instructive that polls show a MAJORITY of Republican voters actually think that Obama is the worst president EVER. That is so out of touch with reality it's ridiculous. Even if you detest Obama's ideology, think he has overreached his authority, and didn't manage the Recession well, he STILL comes nowhere close to being one of the worst presidents ever. Compare him to Buchanan, Garfield, Hoover, Nixon, even his predecessor, George W. Bush, and it's not even close. GOP voters have become blinded to logic by seeing *everything* through a narrow political lens.

All in all, it's enough to make one wonder if there is any basis for hope that the American political scene will improve any time in the near future. It sure doesn't look like it.

As we have seen repeatedly and again with this bill, the GOP no longer even pretends to be the party of all Americans and to be interested in helping minorities and the poor. Those used to be considered American values. The cynicism that has infected American politics may be reaching dangerous levels.

BearinFW 12/16/2014 12:43 AM

Thank you furball for a very well written and thought out reply. We don't have to look into history to see this played out but the European royalty in the 19th century and the ever popular saying "Let them eat cake". We forget that just like commercials political speech and news is crafted to get us to respond in certain ways that are never in our own best interests. Today we find less and less negotiations and compromises but more and more demands from the current majorities no matter what side of the fence they are on. The "Occupy Movement" and the Anonymous people are made out to be a lunatic fringe and terrorists but the media and elected officials but this is far from the reality. I am impressed with the large protests now being staged in many of the US cities but I fear that in time they will also lose interest and get frustrated. Have you noticed that they are already being branded as a black protest movement and not an American People Movement?

barney290 12/15/2014 05:57 AM

@barney-you really hit on something that bugs me, it's amazing how people vote again and again for candidates that don't represent their interests. Yesterday's passage of he omnibus bill keeps the government running, but many of the outrageous provisions in the bill do not help the middle and lower income people in the country. The fact that the bill was passed along party lines only goes to show whose interests the politicians are representing. At this point it all sounds cliche about corrupt politicians, but it makes you wonder how these people get voted into office. Dani Rodrik, social science professor at Princeton, wrote this interesting piece earlier this year on the question. Rodrik argues that at the end of the day it's identity politics --e.g., family values, immigration,etc,-- that are leveraged by the elite to emote people to vote for politicians, who have an agenda that has nothing to do with "ordinary guy" (see the passage of yesterday's bill!). The fact that the first response to RJ's post was asking what the president has done for gay people is a great example of identity politics in play. At this point in timeline of the current administration, if you're asking that question then your information, be it received by print, TV, internet, has been carefully cultivated to make sure you ask that question. Those same type of questions, none that have to do with the well-being of you and your neighbors, are what are being argued about and for what people are being elected (see last mid-term elections!). Here's the link to Rodrik's piece: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/dani- … n-politics

furball 12/14/2014 09:50 AM

I always hear that "I am not against the President because he is black" but I never hear then what is it about the guy you don't like? I hear that he is breaking the law but never hear which ones. I also hear he is giving amnesty to millions but I don't see the violation in what he did because he is not giving anyone amnesty. The stock market is through the roof, more jobs than when the last guy was President, deporting more illegals than any president before him, killing more terrorists than any president, gave million Americans affordable health care options and THE REASON IS you don't like him is?

barney290 12/12/2014 12:46 PM

There are all sorts of GOP poison pills in the spending bill. The Democrats are still in control. Kill it.

BearinFW 12/12/2014 01:08 AM

I see barney290 decided to throw in Christmas to give a land guilt trip, the tool of those resting on air.

There is nothing to question. Why do you think that just because a person is a "minority" that they have to "like" a "black" President? That is absurd. You really need to see the bigger picture: we are all equal, and we ask have the rights to like our dislike anyone or anything based on whatever experience and our information with which we are aware.

It is very simple.

nycbear 12/11/2014 03:01 PM

I always chuckle that anyone actually thinks Fox has a news program. The other thing that is so hard to understand is that people don't like the current President because he is black and are themselves a minority. One can not like the President for all sorts of things but man up and admit you don't like having a black man in the White House. People that support corporations and Wall Street banks and are themselves of the middle or low income sectors really need to have their heads examined as they are only making their own situations worse. You don't like medical care, safe working environments, equal pay and labor laws, regulations on food and water, safe banking, bridges that are safe and a retirement income? You would rather have an oligarchy where you are lucky to be given a bad job, no assistance when you don't, no aid for the young or elderly? I am missing something but isn't there a very famous book about all of this called "A Christmas Carol"?
dadjjsatx BAH HUMBUG!

barney290 12/11/2014 05:32 AM

Just goes on to show that politicians are getting more expensive to buy off. This is not limited to one political party. It's an issue which is just putting big money folk and corporations in power indirectly, no matter which political party comes to power.

aliencubby 12/11/2014 05:26 AM

So,dadjjsatx, you are happy with more money in politics? Don't you think it would be better to have our representatives responsive to us rather than to the person who can donate the most money to get them re-elected? I don't see this as a Democratic or a Repubican thing because both parties have candidates who do the bidding of the very wealthy simply because they get paid off.

I thought that maybe, as just Americans, you and I could agree that we don't like having our politicians bought.

rjzip 12/10/2014 06:46 PM