The Government Shutdown: Follow the money

As you read about the government shutdown, you see much written about the 30 or so congressmen that are holding the rest of the Republican Party, House of Representatives, United States Government hostage due to their ideology.  Well like everything, ideology needs money to stay alive, and I wondered who benefits by the government shutdown. So I decided to research the campaign contributions for these folks. There is a very good website that tracks contributions to congressmen of both parties called www.opensecrets.org.  A little digging and Excel play found some fun numbers.

First some information about the 32 congressmen.  As one of my favorite magazines is Harper's, I present the information in the form of Harper's Index.  

Some fun facts about the 32 congressmen:

• Number of women:  3

• Number of men: 29

• Number of white people: Oh, come on...

• Number representing districts which were formerly a part of the Confederate States of America: 20

• Number with photos of themselves shaking hands with veterans at the WWII memorial prominently displayed on facebook: 5 (so far)

• Number of the above who are among the 30 members of the House of Representatives who served in the Armed Forces:  0 (although 3 of the others did serve in the military at some point)

• Number representing districts whose percentage of population without health insurance is greater than the national average (15%): 14 

• Number of the 6 representatives from Texas whose district's percentage of uninsured citizens is over 20%: 5  (including Randy Neugebauer, of yelling-at-park-ranger fame)

Anyway, you're probably wondering who bankrolls these folks.  Here is a list of donors who donated to two or more of the representatives, and the total they contributed to these particular representatives.  Every congressman has local donors specific to his/her district--it's contributors to multiple congressman that should signal patterns, so only those are included here. You may wonder about some of these, but many groups are among the largest bipartisan contributors, contributing to Democrat and Republican alike, covering their bases no matter who is in charge on Capitol Hill.  

There is a lot of money from conservative groups, well over a million dollars.  But keep in mind that this is spread among 32 people, though not every congressman received money from every group here.  Some contributed to a two or three, some to as many as half of the 32.  Some give a little to each, some give a lot.  Club for Growth has given Steve King over a quarter million dollars over the years.  In any case, when you consider how much money some organizations and corporations have at their disposal, you realize buying congressmen is not very expensive, less than copying paper.  And the benefits can be in the billions of dollars for decades.

• Club for Growth (626,757) - a lobbying group for conservative causes in general

• National Beer Wholesalers Assn (576,500) - the 19th heaviest contributor to Congress in general.  They did not have a large presence on the hill when Prohibition was passed decades ago.  Perhaps the association's motto is "Never Again"

• National Auto Dealers Assn (562,500) - another bipartisan contributor, 65th overall.  How do you think the auto company bailout happened?

• American Bankers Assn (521,800) - 36th overall, usually to Republicans.  You wonder why we don't have financial reform?

• AT&T Inc (506,750) - 9th overall, a little more to Republicans than Democrats.

• National Assn of Realtors (393,500) - 46th overall, exactly 50-50 to the two parties, equal opportunity bribery.  Their major sacred cow is the mortgage interest tax deduction

• Every Republican is Crucial PAC (354,400) - probably not very bipartisan

• Koch Industries (342,900) - the great Satan to liberals is of course in the top ten

• National Assn of Home Builders (326,000) - builders like to support both parties, pals with the Realtors above

• Associated Builders & Contractors (227,350) - ditto

• United Parcel Service (187,495) - one wonders why, but a little digging shows it and FedEx successfully opposed postal reform that would give the postal service easier access to the overnight, second-day and bulk-mail markets.  Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, one of the three women, has received 65,000 from FedEx, headquartered in her district.  
  

• Credit Union National Assn (172,000) - if you deal with money, you tend to like Congressmen

• AFLAC Inc (149,270) - Interesting how health insurance companies support these guys

• Deloitte LLP (146,960) - the largest professional services firm in the solar system

• Freedom Project (131,764) - PAC supporting Republican candidates

• Honeywell International (131,609) - Arms manufacturers always pitch in for the National Defense

• American Medical Assn (125,684) - sorta disappointed to see doctors association supporting those opposed to legislation helping more people access health care

• Lockheed Martin (124,999) - Always a new missile or plane to sell

• National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn (111,600) - the companies in the association control about half the electricity lines in the US.

• Valero Energy (107,000) - lots of Texans among the 32 conservatives and where there are Texans, there's oil

• Bank of America (103,962) - the third largest corporation in the world probably just likes to support Democracy on general principles, probably doesn't care about banking regulation

• American Dental Assn (101,699) - another reason to hate dentists

• Eagle Nation (98,450) - contributes to several candidates, but I can find nothing about it on google.  Not at all suspicious.  Probably not a bald eagle habitat protection group.

• American College of Radiology (95,884) - more medical people supporting these folk?

• Aircraft Owners & Pilots Assn (95,000) - supports interests of general aviation (in other words, corporate jets)

• Citizens United (86,000) - their case against the Federal Elections Commission that went to Supreme Court opened the floodgates of "free speech" corporate contributions to elections.  One of their films is called ACLU: At War with America

• National Cable & Telecommunications Assn (86,000) - lobbying for deregulation in communications

• Morris & Dickson (84,800) - Pharmaceutical wholesaler.  Probably has no interest in the health care law.

• American Crystal Sugar (83,000) - Agriculture subsidies don't just happen on their own 

• PricewaterhouseCoopers (82,975) - Consulting firm, the fifth largest private organization in the US

• Home Depot (76,000) - companies involved in home building like to encourage more of it

• Energy Future Holdings Corp (72,100) - Texas energy corporation pushing for deregulation

• Northrop Grumman (71,250) - Congressman, have you seen my latest missile?

• Susan B Anthony List (65,355) - no, not dollar coin collectors.  It's an anti-abortion group

• American Academy of Ophthalmology (64,000) - again, displeased that medical associations support these people

• American Assn of Orthopaedic Surgeons (62,000) - but, how are football players from poor families going to be put together again without ACA?

• American Society of Anesthesiologists (61,500) - count backwards from 10

• American Farm Bureau (59,482) - Agriculture subsidies anyone?

• National Cattlemen's Beef Assn (58,768) - Their motto: "Somewhere in the constitution is the inalienable right to graze on federal land, lemme just find it."

• Independent Community Bankers of America (55,850) - What will George Bailey say about Bedford Falls Savings and Loan getting together with Mr. Potter above?

• Blue Cross/Blue Shield (51,800) - sorta surprised, as insurance companies will make out on ACA, well, according to Tea Party folk

Though the government shut down will cost the economy billions of dollars in lost business, it didn't cost much to support the guys who championed it.  If you have time, it's worth finding out who supports your congressman.  We pay them, but when successful congressional campaigns cost on average 1.5 million dollars, who are they going to listen to?