In March of 2014 Senator Reid gave a speech to the Senate, that lays out what’s going on here. Below the fold I include the full text of his talk.
The Radical Koch Brothers, Exposed By Senator Reid
The Daily Conversation | Published on March 13, 2014 | 6:33 min
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) speaks out against the efforts of Charles and David Koch, who are using their vast fortunes to push for right-wing, pro-industrialist policies.
Subscribe to The Daily Conversation for more progressive videos like this.
Full transcript:
Over the last couple weeks I've taken some heat from Senate Republicans and conservative pundits for exposing two multi-billionaires. These are two oil barons and they're trying to rig the political system to favor the rich and especially favor themselves. After the14th statement issued by a spokesman for the Koch brothers, adverse to me, it seems abundantly clear that I've gotten under their skin. But, as the saying goes, and the saying goes, this came from the great Senator Pat Moynihan who said, ”Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not for their own facts.”
But, I guessed the Koch brothers have been able to buy their facts over the years, not paying any attention to whether they were true or false. This week media outlets from New York, and especially The Time,s to the Washington Post, to the Detroit News, have revealed the truth and here's the truth
Millions in political ads sponsored by these two multi billionaires are misleading at best, and outright false in many instances. Mr. President, the truth is the Koch brothers are willing to do anything, even exploit Americans suffering from cancer to advance their campaign of distortion. Mr. President you know I'm not afraid of the Koch brothers. None of us should be afraid of Koch brothers. These two multi billionaires can spend millions of dollars of their money rigging the political process for their own benefit. But, that doesn't mean we have to lay down and take it, because we're not going.
01:50 - They may believe that whoever has the most money gets the most free speech, Mr. President that is wrong it's unfair and it's untrue. I’ll do whatever it takes to expose their campaign, their campaign to rig the American political system to benefit the wealthy, at the expense of the middle class. A number of Republican senators have rushed over here to defend the Koch brothers.
That’s hard to comprehend, but they've done it. If you ask me and no one has, but I’ll give you my opinion anyway. The billionaire's seem perfectly capable of defending themselves, they do it with hundreds of millions of dollars I'm sure that over the last couple years it has reached close to a billion dollars, spreading this these falsehoods. Now remember Mr. President they don't just do it under this Americans for Prosperity phony banner they have.
2:40 - They divert money to a lot of other organizations, for example millions of dollars to the Chamber of Commerce who runs ads against Democratic Senators. So I think they're capable of defending themselves but when Senate Republican Senators rushed to defend the Koch brothers they're also defending the Koch brothers radical philosophy, and it’s radical, how do we know it's radical? Because they said it's radical.
They said so. I'm not making those words up. One of the brothers kept harping on the fact that he has a radical philosophy and they do. So I ask my Republican colleagues in the Senate: Is even one of you, even one of you, willing to stand up and disavow the Koch brothers radical agenda?
03:30 - It’s radical. It’s radical because they say it's radical, and it is radical, all you have to do is look at it:
Will Senate Republicans reject the Koch brothers radical plan to privatize Social Security?
Will they come here and reject the Koch brothers radical plan to end Medicare as we know it?
Will Senate Republicans reject the Koch brothers radical plan to end the guarantee of affordable quality health care and put insurance companies back in charge - so tens of millions of Americans are again one heart attack away from bankruptcy?
Will Senate Republican Senators reject the Koch brothers radical plan to allow insurance companies to deny coverage for a child with a heart murmur, a survivor of breast cancer, a teen who suffers from acne, or absolutely anyone with a pre-existing condition - no matter how minor?
Will Senate Republicans reject the Koch brothers radical plan to eliminate minimum wage laws and workplace safety standards - that's what the Koch brothers want?
Will Senate Republican senators reject the Koch brothers radical plan to decimate Americans public education system - that's what they want?
Will Senate Republicans reject the Koch brothers radical plan to rollback environmental safeguards and give themselves the unfettered right to pollute our air and water?
We have to, Mr. President, look out for our children our grandchildren having pure water to drink, good air to breathe, not with the Koch brothers. That isn't what they want.
Will Senate Republicans reject the Koch brothers radical plan to give more tax breaks to the richest of the rich, to profitable oil companies, corporations that ship jobs overseas, and billionaires who pay lower taxes than their secretaries?
Not one Republican stepped forward, so obviously they must agree with the Koch brothers radical philosophy
5:30 - Republicans are willing to defend the Koch brothers on the floor of this Senate, but are they willing to defend the Koch brothers radical agenda as well? I guess that's what they’re doing by coming to the floor.
If Republicans don't support the Koch brothers survival of the richest philosophy all they have to do is say so.
Because the truth is it would be a terrible thing to allow the Koch brothers to buy Congress and to buy our country and that's what they're trying to do.
But it would be catastrophic to allow the Koch brothers Congress to devastate the American middle class (with) their richest take all policy agenda. This discussion isn't just about fairness, or the democratic way.
This discussion isn’t just about inherent danger in allowing two multi billionaire oil barons to buy America's political system. This is also about how these two multi billionaires would use their political system once they bought it and how they would abuse, it in order to add zeros to the bottom while hurting middle-class families.
(Not to mention eliminating what democracy remains for We The People.)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
(Not to mention eliminating what democracy remains for We The People.)
No comments:
Post a Comment