Outrage of the Week, September 5, 1997 Republicans Admit That Tobacco Lobbyists Wrote Their Tax Bill
Republican leaders up on Capitol Hill continue to do the bidding of industry lobbyists. USA Today reported this week that, at the insistence of Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Trent Lott, tobacco industry lobbyists were allowed literally to write a $50 billion windfall for tobacco companies into the tax bill passed by the House in July. As USA Today reported:
"Tobacco industry representatives wrote the provision of the budget law that allows cigarette makers to reduce their future liability in smoking-related lawsuits, Congress's chief tax writer told USA Today.
"'The industry wrote it and submitted it, and we just used their language,' [said] Kenneth Kies, staff director of the Joint Committee on Taxation.
"....The proposal became law after House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott insisted on its inclusion in the balanced budget act." (USA Today, 8/29/97)
This is not the first time that Republicans have allowed special interest lobbyists to write their bills. When Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, they began meeting weekly with corporate lobbyists and special interest contributors. They allowed them to work out of the Capitol, draft legislation, conduct official briefings, sit on the dais at congressional hearings, and write official committee reports. When Republicans were rewriting the Clean Water Act, the New York Times reported that "The bill's sponsors and a committee of lobbyists worked side by side on the bill, inserting one provision after another to satisfy industry groups like the Chemical Manufacturers Association [and] companies like International Paper." (New York Times, 3/22/95)
Why do lobbyists get to write their own bills in the Republican Congress, like this recent special deal for tobacco companies? A quick look at campaign contributions sheds some light. In the first six months of this year, the Republican party received a staggering $1.6 million in contributions from tobacco lobbyists, the second largest industry contribution to the Republican party this year. This is in addition to the $7.8 million in campaign contributions to Republicans from the tobacco industry in the 1996 elections. Now it's payback time, apparently....
Prepared by the U.S. House Democratic Policy Committee
Richard A. Gephardt, Democratic Leader