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Friend,
Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are raking in corporate cash as they block some of the most popular and needed provisions of the Democrats’ reconciliation package.
But the corporate media refuses to report on these obvious conflicts of interest.
In fact, as Common Dreams just reported, the major TV networks mentioned these conflicts on just 4% of their segments, for a total of 45 seconds. And when they did mention it, their pundits insisted the corporate money had nothing to do with their opposition to the bill.
That’s not journalism. It’s gaslighting.
On September 28, Sinema flew to a fundraiser with five corporate lobby groups that fiercely oppose the bill, asking for individual donations of up to $5,800 to attend. When she returned to D.C., she immediately reiterated her opposition to the bill, including popular tax increases for big corporations and the ultra wealthy.
Then when the drug industry started running ads supporting her—which is, effectively, a campaign contribution—Sinema immediately announced her opposition to the bill’s plan allowing Medicare to bargain lower prices with drug companies, a policy that’s supported by more than 8 in 10 Americans.
Joe Manchin’s conflicts are, if anything, more blatant. He owns a coal firm called Enersystems, now run by his son, that continues to pay him millions. Meanwhile, he’s almost single-handedly forcing the Biden administration to remove important and hugely popular climate provisions from the bill, like incentives for utilities to transition to clean energy.
It’s plain as day that the reason these Democrats are opposing such wildly popular proposals is money. But the corporate media is basically running a gaslighting operation to convince the public that up is down, black is white . . . and money doesn’t influence politicians.
Common Dreams has the independence to call out Manchin and Sinema’s corporate money because we refuse to take in corporate advertising dollars. Instead, we rely on you, our readers. Will you make a donation to help Common Dreams meet our Fall Campaign fundraising goal?
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