Real Koch Facts

The Koch front on the Export Import Bank

March 20, 2015

The LIBRE Initiative bills itself as a non-profit group that pushes a message of economic freedom and limited government among the Latino community. But the Koch bankrolled group is just a front for the Koch’s self-interested agenda. The LIBRE Initiative has been pushing to block a minimum wage hike, oppose the expansion of medicaid, and fight against clean energy legislation, and now do away with the Export-Import Bank.

The mission of the Bank is to create and sustain U.S. jobs by financing sales of U.S. exports to international buyers. In FY 2014 the export-import bank funded $10.7 billion in small business exports, making small business exports the top category for Ex-Im Bank last year. The reauthorization of the Bank is set to expire in June — if Congress doesn’t act.

Of course, the Kochs are opposed to the program because it gives small businesses an […]

The Koch Sponsored Director of the Congressional Budget Office

March 3, 2015

The Koch brothers poured millions into the GOP campaign treasure chest in the 2014 midterms. And now, the newly elected GOP majority is repaying their investors by installing Koch cronies in posts across Capitol Hill. Last week, the Republicans appointed Koch ally, Keith Hall, to serve as the director of Congressional Budget Office. In theory, the Congressional Budget Director analyzes the economic impact of congressional proposals absent any ideological bent. But if you check out Hall’s record, his Koch-funded bias is all too clear.

Prior to his appointment, Hall worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Institute, which is one of the dozens of free-market, anti-regulatory policy shops that the Kochs have bankrolled. The Mercatus Institute has churned out reports arguing for the privatization of Social Security; fingering public employee unions for causing state budget crises; attempting to debunk climate science; and […]

The Koch Brothers’ War On State Colleges

February 20, 2015

A Huffington Post story last week shed light on the Koch brothers and their cronies’ newest frontier for attack: state colleges.

In North Carolina, Koch consigliere Art Pope’s well-documented influence cannot be overstated, Over the past decade, Pope, the wealthy owner of a chain of dollar stores, has poured $40 million into manipulating American politics and using his fortune to control the legislative agenda in North Carolina. In 2010, Pope underwrote the Tea Party takeover of the North Carolina state legislature. According to an analysis by the Institute for Southern Studies, of the twenty-two legislative races targeted by Pope in 2010, the Republicans won eighteen. Democrats in North Carolina were outspent and upended. “It led to Republicans controlling both chambers of the legislature for the first time in more than 100 years.

Pope is at the center of Koch world and he has […]

AFP pulls out all the stops to keep 200,000 Tennesseans uninsured

February 6, 2015

If you’ve been following the ongoing political battles over Medicaid expansion in Republican-controlled states across the country, then you know that the Koch brothers’ chief political arm, Americans for Prosperity, has been a vocal opponent of expanding Medicaid coverage in states like North Carolina. Their effort to block Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of uninsured is bad enough on face, but even worse is the sheer glee with which AFP has heralded the defeat of Medicaid expansion proposals. In North Carolina, the state AFP chapter offered Governor McCrory their “congratulations” for signing a bill blocking Medicaid expansion into law, and now this week in Tennessee, that state’s chapter has declared it a “victory” that 200,000 Tennesseans will remain uninsured.

NBC News has a must-read rundown of AFP’s “aggressive” effort to make Republican Governor Bill Haslam’s widely popular Medicaid expansion proposal, Insure TN, politically unpalatable […]

The Gazillionaire-Owned Party: Kochs Complete Takeover Of The GOP

January 27, 2015

To: Interested Parties

From: Brad Woodhouse, President, American Bridge 21st Century
Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Re: The Gazillionaire-Owned Party: Kochs Complete Takeover Of The GOP

Eight-hundred and eighty-nine million dollars. The Koch brothers’ budget for the 2016 elections is $889 million.

That’s what it costs to buy a political party these days, apparently. But then again, the Koch brothers’ net worth fluctuated more than that much yesterday, so what’s it to them?

In early 2014, American Bridge launched RealKochFacts.com, a first of its kind research and rapid response website to shine light on the unsavory activities of the Koch brothers, their decades-long self-interested agenda, their growing power within the Republican Party, and the consequences of their platform for working families. At the time, some asked why we were focusing this much time and effort on two private citizens. It should be clear now, we never had a choice — the Koch network has overtaken GOP.

Consider the realities of the […]

AFP Continues Fight Against Health Care Access For Low-Income Americans, Kids, People With Disabilities

December 11, 2014

The Koch brothers’ heartless crusade to block Medicaid expansion and deny health care access to low-income Americans just keeps rolling on. Monday, Americans For Prosperity-North Carolina director, Donald Bryson, and AFP policy analyst, Akash Chougule, penned an op-ed calling on Gov. McCrory to ignore renewed pressure to expand Medicaid.

In the op-ed, Americans For Prosperity’s callousness is on full display. Not only does AFP find the costs of Medicaid expansion to North Carolina taxpayers unacceptable (even though studies show it would save the state billions), but they have trouble even conceiving that there would be any merit at all in providing an affordable health insurance option to working North Carolinians:

And what would we be paying for? Nothing that should comfort taxpayers. Potentially crowding out funding for roads and schools for the return on investment we would receive from Medicaid expansion would be ludicrous.

Their utter lack of empathy is almost as breathtaking as […]

Closing Argument: Thom Tillis Helped Make North Carolina The Kochs’ “Model State”

October 30, 2014

In 2013, a year before Koch-backed groups had begun their all out assault to help elect Speaker Thom Tillis to the Senate, the head of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) said that North Carolina provided “a great opportunity” to “create a model state”. What exactly did the Kochs have in mind for this “model state?” If their support for his Senate candidacy is any indicator, it probably looks a lot like the extreme, Tea Party agenda enacted by Speaker Tillis – helping the wealthy and special interests at the expense of North Carolina’s schools and working families.

Speaker Tillis’s worked hard to deliver for the secretive billionaire Koch brothers. His budget gave massive tax breaks to millionaires and raised taxes on small business owners and seniors’ retirement income. It stripped $500 million in education funding over two years and cut 13,000 education jobs, causing good teachers to leave the state […]

Closing Argument: Terri Lynn Land’s Failed Koch Candidacy

October 30, 2014

The billionaire Koch brothers know a thing or two about making economic investments, and so ahead of the 2014 election cycle, they sought to invest in candidates that would push their extreme self-serving agenda in races in that could help expand the senate map for Republicans. In Michigan, they have gone zero for one with Republican Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land.

The wealthy brothers couldn’t have asked for a candidate who would better toe the Koch line than Terri Lynn Land, unfortunately that agenda turned out to be anathema to Michigan voters. Whether she was opposing a minimum wage hike, gushing over unlimited dark money in campaigns, or promising to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act, Land’s positions on the trail have been everything the Koch brothers could hope for. And on top of all that, she had millions of dollars to fund her own campaign.

So the Kochs invested, maxing out to Land’s […]

Rick Scott – The Special Interests Governor

October 30, 2014

The heated race for governor in the Sunshine State is just around the corner, and after throwing his fantrum on national television, Rick Scott needs something of a miracle to win reelection. Luckily for Scott, he’s got the support of the billionaire Koch brothers and their extensive political network: Koch Industries has made large contributions to Scott’s campaign, and the Kochs’ primary political arm, Americans For Prosperity, has put more than 40 paid staffers on the ground in the Sunshine State.

Scott’s ties to the Koch brothers go back a ways. In 2013, Scott spoke at Americans For Prosperity’s “Defending the American Dream Summit” in Orlando the very same week that he skipped his own three-day education summit, a stark juxtaposition of priorities that drew this rebuke from Tampa Bay Times:

“Unless he’s worried about his base or the lingering threat of a primary challenge, it baffles us that Scott – who […]

Republicans Pledge Allegiance To Koch, NH Edition

Nothing says “I’m a strong independent-minded leader” like signing a sweeping pledge of allegiance to the Koch brothers.

The Concord Monitor reports that Republican state candidates across the board in New Hampshire have signed an Americans for Prosperity pledge that includes among other things, opposition to Medicaid expansion, which has already expanded health care access to 50,000 Granite Staters, and support for legislation to limit collective bargaining and further strain working families.

Already, the Kochs’ AFP has shown that the pledge is no joke — they have sent out mailers attacking two Republican state senators in New Hampshire who signed last year’s pledge, but then voted for Medicaid expansion and a tiny increase in the gas tax to fund crucial infrastructure projects.

Republicans in New Hampshire stood proudly with AFP’s NH director as they signed over their voices to the Koch brothers. And one of the two Republican […]

AFP Bucks Bipartisan Concern Over High Cost of Important Medical Treatment

July 31, 2014

A new Hepatitis C drug costs $84,000 per treatment. And the Kochs’ Americans For Prosperity thinks that’s just lovely, because free markets or something.

Sovaldi is a highly effective new drug, but one also that threatens to strain everybody’s pocket books, driving up premiums. For context, as AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni wrote, it would cost more money to treat every American with Hepatitis C with Sovaldi than the entire country spent on all prescription drugs in 2012. So naturally, there has been bipartisan concern about the pricing of the drug.

But not in Kochville. Americans for Prosperity just strongly denounced government efforts to make this groundbreaking treatment more affordable. This is really just a window into the Kochs’ perfect world: replace as much government as possible with the magic of the unregulated free market and let profits reign supreme. Even when it comes to matters of life and […]

Koch lackey Tillis balances tax cuts on the backs of NC teachers

The love story of North Carolina’s Thom Tillis and the Koch brothers gets more epic by the day, now spanning multiple years and issues and with millions spent to cement their political union. Earlier this year, the Kochs’ political arm, Americans for Prosperity, even held a series of rallies proclaiming their admiration for Tillis and his extreme policies, most especially the tax breaks for the state’s uber-wealthy that he helped shepherd into law.

According to the Charlotte Observer, the initial 2013 wave of those tax cuts reduced state revenue this year by $500 million, possibly more. Last year’s Tillis budget also cut education funding by approximately the same amount. Faced with a teaching force whose pay ranks 48th in the nation, the state legislature is “struggling” to give its teachers a much-deserved raise, which would cost $400 million, according to the […]

Rick Scott And The Koch Brothers Sitting In A Tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G

It’s a marriage made in heaven.

The idea of raising the minimum wage makes Rick Scott cringe. The Kochs and Americans for Prosperity want to get rid of the minimum wage altogether. Rick Scott won’t expand Medicaid for over 750,000 Floridians and 40,000 veterans. AFP has fought against Medicaid expansion across the country. Rick Scott won’t accept climate science. The Kochs have long funded climate change denial groups.

So of course Americans for Prosperity is lending their support to Rick Scott. It was love at first sight!

Terri Lynn Land Gushes Over Unlimited Dark Money

Photo Credit: Barta IV

Terri Lynn Land has been the beneficiary of quite a bit of support from the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity. $3.6 million of support, that is, in the form of baseless and debunked attack ads against her opponent.

Maybe that’s why she was recently so quick to praise unlimited dark money in politics as “the American Way,” calling it “what’s great about our country.” Really? We here at Real Koch Facts think Americans may disagree that the prospect of an election being upended by billionaires flooding the airwaves with false advertisements attacking a candidate does not rise to the level of baseball and apple pie.

But AFP’s Koch-funded agenda in Michigan goes beyond attempts to buy a Senate seat. AFP recently wasted $27,000 (more than $4 per vote) on an unsuccessful attempt to kill an effort to fund road repairs in Grand Rapids. They unsuccessfully lobbied against the […]

Koch Group Applauds Virginia GOP For Blocking 190,000 Constituents From Getting Health Care

Photo Credit: Seattle Municipal Archive

The Washington Post ran a scathing editorial last month that began like this:

Republicans in Virginia’s House of Delegates have blocked hundreds of thousands of poor Virginians from getting health insurance under the Obama administration’s Medicaid expansion. At the same time, they’ve refused to suggest any alternative method by which the needy people in the state might arrange health coverage.

The Post made the case that it’s morally reprehensible to refuse Medicaid expansion and deny health care to hundreds of thousands of your constituents in order to make some sort of political statement. A pretty straight-forward argument.

But the Kochs’ Americans for Prosperity was there to push back, applauding this stunt to deny people health care. Writing a letter to the editor in response to that editorial, AFP’s Virginia director offered this heartfelt conclusion: “The decision by Virginia Republicans not to expand Medicaid is logical and prudent.”

And it’s not just Virginia where AFP is waging this battle. They’ve fought against Medicaid expansion in Nebraska and Maine, in Louisiana and Pennsylvania. In Michigan, they promised to spend “considerable resources” targeting the Senators who voted to expand Medicaid.

It’s part of a callous campaign that has left over 250,000 veterans, and millions more Americans, uninsured. But it’s one that is squarely in line with the Koch agenda that promises to make life harder for working families and even easier for the wealthy at every turn.

View supporting research after the jump.

AFP President To Obama: Stop Protecting Medicare And Social Security

Photo Credit: Pedro Ribeiro Simões

Brad Woodhouse, President of American Bridge

Last week, Tim Phillips, president of the Koch-funded group Americans for Prosperity, penned an op-ed for Forbes entitled “The Non-Existent Era of Austerity.” In his piece, under the familiar guise of faux fiscal responsibility, Phillips assailed President Obama for his “addiction” to protecting programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from massive cuts. Or as AFP calls massive cuts, “reforms” that would “save” the programs.

Make no mistake–the goal of Americans for Prosperity, which has already promised to spend $125 million supporting extreme conservatives in the midterm elections, is not save Social Security or Medicare. Their agenda is exactly the same as the one the Koch brothers have been pushing for over 30 years: Slash Medicare, dismantle social security, and undermine government as a whole in the process. It’s a self-serving agenda that centers on making the rich even richer at the expense of working families.

Their history speaks for itself: AFP has supported Paul Ryan’s budgets, including one that the Wall Street Journal said would “essentially end Medicare.” David Koch’s 1980 Libertarian ticket called social security “the most serious threat to the future stability of our society next to nuclear war.” They’ve supported huge tax cuts for the wealthy, while calling for abolishing the minimum wage.

AFP and the Kochs don’t want to save programs that are crucial to the middle class. They want to destroy them.

View supporting research after the jump.

Dismantling Social Security & Medicare

Photo Credit: Alexandre Janini

In America, we have long cherished the basic promise that if you play by the rules and pay your taxes, you have the opportunity to retire with security. But in the Kochs’ utopia, that doesn’t seem to be part of the bargain.

The Kochs and their main political group, Americans for Prosperity, have repeatedly made it clear that even Medicare and Social Security aren’t institutions worth protecting.

AFP’s war on seniors came into focus in 2011 when they endorsed Paul Ryan’s plan to replace Medicare with a voucher plan. It was a plan that Wall Street Journal said “would essentially end Medicare.” The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the plan would end up more-than-doubling the out-of-pocket costs to a typical 65-year old Medicare beneficiary by 2022.

And even after all this, AFP supported Ryan’s budgets the following two years as well, which contained very similar plans, as well as a plan to increase the Medicare eligibility age.

As if all their attacks on Medicare weren’t bad enough for seniors, the Kochs’ AFP disparaged Social Security in a “Legislative Alert,” saying: “The simple fact of the matter is that Social Security is a broken and antiquated program.”

Millions of American seniors who rely on Social Security to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads may disagree.