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President Donald Trump jokes with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wy.), Vice President Mike Pence, Spaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) during an event celebrating the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on the South Lawn of the White House December 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Koch Document Reveals Laundry List of Policy Victories Extracted from the Trump Administration
Documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented show that the network of wealthy donors led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have taken credit for a laundry list of policy achievements under Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress
Feb 26, 2018
In the backdrop of a chaotic first year of Donald Trump's presidency, the conservative Koch brothers have won victory after victory in their bid to reshape American government to their interests.
Documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented show that the network of wealthy donors led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have taken credit for a laundry list of policy achievements extracted from the Trump administration and their allies in Congress.
The donors have pumped campaign contributions not only to GOP lawmakers, but also to an array of third-party organizations that have pressured officials to act swiftly to roll back limits on pollution, approve new pipeline projects, and extend the largest set of upper-income tax breaks in generations.
"This year, thanks in part to research and outreach efforts across institutions, we have seen progress on many regulatory priorities this Network has championed for years," the memo notes. The document highlights environmental issues that the Koch brothers have long worked to undo, such as the EPA Clean Power Plan, which is currently under the process of being formally repealed, and Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, among their major accomplishments. The memo also highlighted administration efforts to walk back planned rules to strengthen the estate tax in a list of 13 regulatory decisions favored by the network.
Read the full article, and the supporting document in full, at The Intercept.
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Lee Fang
Lee Fang is an investigative journalist and staff writer for The Intercept. He also founded the Republic Reform blog and is a frequent contributor to The Nation. He was previously a reporting fellow with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, former Senior Investigator for United Republic, and a former investigative blogger for ThinkProgress.org. He is author of "The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right" (2013). Follow him on Twitter: @lhfang
Nick Surgey
Nick Surgey is an investigative reporter and the director of Documented, a watchdog group that investigates how corporations manipulate public policy. His research has been widely featured, including by The Guardian, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Colbert Report. Nick was previously director of research at the Center for Media and Democracy, and prior to that, staff counsel at Common Cause, where he led the research and legal work on the group's investigation into the American Legislative Exchange Council and its Supreme Court Ethics project.
In the backdrop of a chaotic first year of Donald Trump's presidency, the conservative Koch brothers have won victory after victory in their bid to reshape American government to their interests.
Documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented show that the network of wealthy donors led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have taken credit for a laundry list of policy achievements extracted from the Trump administration and their allies in Congress.
The donors have pumped campaign contributions not only to GOP lawmakers, but also to an array of third-party organizations that have pressured officials to act swiftly to roll back limits on pollution, approve new pipeline projects, and extend the largest set of upper-income tax breaks in generations.
"This year, thanks in part to research and outreach efforts across institutions, we have seen progress on many regulatory priorities this Network has championed for years," the memo notes. The document highlights environmental issues that the Koch brothers have long worked to undo, such as the EPA Clean Power Plan, which is currently under the process of being formally repealed, and Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, among their major accomplishments. The memo also highlighted administration efforts to walk back planned rules to strengthen the estate tax in a list of 13 regulatory decisions favored by the network.
Read the full article, and the supporting document in full, at The Intercept.
Lee Fang
Lee Fang is an investigative journalist and staff writer for The Intercept. He also founded the Republic Reform blog and is a frequent contributor to The Nation. He was previously a reporting fellow with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, former Senior Investigator for United Republic, and a former investigative blogger for ThinkProgress.org. He is author of "The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right" (2013). Follow him on Twitter: @lhfang
Nick Surgey
Nick Surgey is an investigative reporter and the director of Documented, a watchdog group that investigates how corporations manipulate public policy. His research has been widely featured, including by The Guardian, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Colbert Report. Nick was previously director of research at the Center for Media and Democracy, and prior to that, staff counsel at Common Cause, where he led the research and legal work on the group's investigation into the American Legislative Exchange Council and its Supreme Court Ethics project.
In the backdrop of a chaotic first year of Donald Trump's presidency, the conservative Koch brothers have won victory after victory in their bid to reshape American government to their interests.
Documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented show that the network of wealthy donors led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have taken credit for a laundry list of policy achievements extracted from the Trump administration and their allies in Congress.
The donors have pumped campaign contributions not only to GOP lawmakers, but also to an array of third-party organizations that have pressured officials to act swiftly to roll back limits on pollution, approve new pipeline projects, and extend the largest set of upper-income tax breaks in generations.
"This year, thanks in part to research and outreach efforts across institutions, we have seen progress on many regulatory priorities this Network has championed for years," the memo notes. The document highlights environmental issues that the Koch brothers have long worked to undo, such as the EPA Clean Power Plan, which is currently under the process of being formally repealed, and Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, among their major accomplishments. The memo also highlighted administration efforts to walk back planned rules to strengthen the estate tax in a list of 13 regulatory decisions favored by the network.
Read the full article, and the supporting document in full, at The Intercept.
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