defeat Archives

What Transparency? Senate Republicans Killed The Disclosure Act

For the second time in two days, Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked legislation aimed at making campaign groups more transparent.

In a party-line 53-45 vote, the Senate killed the DISCLOSE Act. It needed at least 60 votes to move forward.

Republicans said the DISCLOSE Act would discourage free speech by intimidating donors. The bill would have prevented outside campaign groups from hiding their donors by requiring organizations that spend $10,000 or more during an election cycle to file a report with the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours and identify any donors who gave $10,000 or more.

“It is a predictable response,” Lisa Gilbert, Deputy Director at Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, told Raw Story. “It’s a false claim. Only those who have something to hide think that disclosure harms free speech.”

“Disclosure is obvious, easy and Americans want it,” she added.

Republicans Vote Against American Jobs Again – Must Make Obama Fail

Republicans again successfully blocked another portion of President Obama’s jobs bill. The bill that just went down in the Senate had 50 Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against it. It would create or save 400,000 jobs, and put first responders back to work throughout the nation. Republicans stood in unity and voted against Firefighters, Teachers and Police Officers.

And why are these jobs not important to Republicans?

How do you pay for the bill? That’s the question Republicans have hidden behind as their excuse to cut or not support bills that will help Americans. In this case, the jobs bill to put these Americans back to work would cost $30 billion, and Democrats wanted to tax millionaires on income over $1 million to pay for it.

How was this tax going to work?

Democrats were asking Republicans to agree to a tax that equals half of 1 percent. That’s half of 1 percent on income over $1 million, so if a millionaire made $1 million and ten dollars, he or she would be taxed on the $10.00 at .5% or half of 1 percent. Vice President Joe Biden explains it this way;

“Are you going to put 400,000 school teachers back in classrooms, are you going to put 18,000 cops back on the street and 7,000 firefighters back in the firehouses? Or are you going to save people with average incomes of $1 million a one-half of 1 percent increase in tax on every dollar they make over a million?”

The Vice President then advised Americans to pay close attention to how their representatives vote. “So I say to the American people, watch your senator, watch him or her choose.”

In last night’s vote, Americans saw another example of where Republicans stand when it comes to getting this economy back on track. All Senate Republicans decided not to vote for the jobs of school teachers, cops or firefighters. They all voted to make sure this economy continues down the drain, with the hopes that President Obama gets the blame and loses the election in 2012.

Party before Patriotism. That’s the new definition of today’s Republican party!