The Hill: McConnell Fails To Deliver

According to The Hill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is failing to deliver.

After just over a month, McConnell is reportedly on the brink of breaking his promise to avoid shutting down government agencies, according to The Hill.

At the same time, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) continues to lash McConnell and Republicans in the Senate for failing to ram through a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that blocks the White House plan to halt deportations.

Just last December, McConnell claimed: “We don’t intend to engage in rhetoric nor actions that rattle the public.”

McConnell has already had to break his pledge to return the Senate to “regular order.”

He celebrated getting more votes on amendments on the Keystone XL bill than had been allowed in all of last year, but he shut down Democrats seeking to debate the pipeline.

“That led to complaints that he was in a hurry to help several Republicans get going to California for a weekend retreat with billionaire donors Charles and David Koch,” says The Hill.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) told reporters that McConnell went “Right back to a process of shutting everything down, even stopping people from having 60 seconds to speak about their amendments.”

“There is no sign that McConnell intends to reverse the ‘nuclear option’ rules change made by Democrats when they held the majority. McConnell had complained bitterly when Democrats made that shift but now shows no sign of wanting to switch the rules back again,” says The Hill.

“Sen. McConnell promised the moon but delivered a box of rocks,” said Adam Jentleson, the spokesman for Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), the Senate Minority Leader.

“The Republican Senate has started off as the least productive, most partisan, most contentious Senate in recent memory,” said Jentleson. “From bypassing committees on every single bill so far to trying to silence senators who dared to disagree with him to failing to hold a single Friday vote, Sen. McConnell is running a closed and partisan process that is extremely unproductive for the middle class.”

More:

http://thehill.com/opinion/juan-williams/233365-juan-williams-mcconnell-fails-to-deliver-in-senate

GOP Warns Iranian Nukes May Hit US Cities: Are They Serious?

A week ago, three presidential candidates talked to a roomful of wealthy donors at the Koch Brothers’ American Recovery Policy Forum in Palm Springs, California. The discussion underscored disagreement within the GOP over global affairs and national security.

Republican Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul took part in a largely friendly, but occasionally fiery, panel at the event sponsored by Charles and David Koch.

The event was moderated by ABC’s Jonathan Karl, and marked the first time potential GOP contenders gathered on the same stage at the same time to talk about policy in 2015, a year that’s expected to see several candidates compete for the Republican nomination.

TYT Network

Koch Bros Network To Spend Nearly $900 Million On Next Election

Kyle Kulinski

According to Common Dreams:

“The political network backed by right-wing billionaires Charles and David Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaigns, a stunning amount on par with both the major political parties, the Washington Post reported Monday.”

According to the New York Times:

“In 2012, the Kochs’ network spent just under $400 million, an astonishing sum at the time.”

More here

McConnell Refuses To Allow Debate On Amendments To Make Time For Koch Bros Forum

According to PoliticusUSA, Senate Democrats are livid because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell abruptly cut off debate on the Keystone XL bill so that Republicans could attend a weekend conference with the Koch brothers.

Democrats accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of shutting down a Senate that was supposed to be run in a more open way than under the previous administration.

Politico: “They also wondered aloud if Republicans were trying to wrap up all Keystone business to accommodate a conference scheduled for this weekend in Palm Springs, Calif., that’s affiliated with the billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch.”

CSPAN2

The Koch Brothers’ American Recovery Policy Forum In Palm Springs

According to Politico, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida offered an early glimpse of the GOP presidential primary debates at a forum Sunday in front of hundreds of donors affiliated with the Koch network.

They mainly focused their economic attacks on President Barack Obama while showcasing their own differences on foreign policy.

The three 2016 Republican presidential contenders laid out their arguments on issues such as the minimum wage, income inequality, tax reform and relations with Cuba at a resort in Palm Springs, California during the American Recovery Policy Forum, which was organized by Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.

The group oversees the political operation created by the billionaire industrialist megadonors Charles and David Koch.

The forum was moderated by ABC’s Jonathan Karl and was part of the annual winter meeting of the Kochs’ political operation. It was live-streamed to the media, giving the public a first-time peek into the usually secretive event.

Chron.com:  “Cruz and his rivals, seated in couches and free from the clamor of a presidential debate, discussed Cuba policy, the need for a minimum wage and the successes and failures of Mitt Romney in a low-key back-and-forth in California. The trio sparred a bit over the need for the GOP to address income inequality, with Cruz saying it remained obvious that the widening gap demanded attention.”

The Washington Post:  “The panel, moderated by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl, took place at a private meeting of wealthy donors hosted by Freedom Partners, a tax-exempt group that serves as the hub of a political network supported by Charles and David Koch and other conservative financiers. In a first, the organization shared a live Web stream of the event with news organizations.”

Oddly, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell seemed to shut down the debate on the Keystone XL and wrap up business in order to make time for the Koch meeting in California.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/koch-forum-rand-paul-marco-rubio-ted-cruz-114588.html#ixzz3Px8zw768

Koch Brother Wants To Reform Justice System After He Faced Charges

TYT video.

According to Politico, Charles Koch, known for his support of libertarian and Republican causes, is opening his wallet on an unexpected issue.

According to a story published Sunday by The Wichita Eagle, Koch plans to increase his efforts for criminal justice reform.

“Over the next year, we are going to be pushing the issues key to this, which need a lot of work in this country,” Koch said, according to the paper.

“And that would be freedom of speech, cronyism and how that relates to opportunities for the disadvantaged.”

Koch added that changes are needed, “especially for the disadvantaged,” whom he said feel the impact the most. He also cited the need to reform criminal sentences, which he said need to be “more appropriate to the crime that has been committed.”

More:

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/charles-koch-interview-criminal-justice-reform-113839.html

Koch Brothers Network: More Powerful Than You Think

The Koch brothers are among the most prominent donors in American politics and are two of the top five wealthiest Americans.

Funneling much of their money through so-called Super PACs and other advocacy groups, the co-owners of Koch Industries have garnered the attention of left-leaning activists and politicans critical of outside spending in elections.

According to Politico, conservative megadonors Charles and David Koch have reportedly invested massive amounts of money in a company that’s developing complex profiles of 250 million American voters and their consumer habits.

Politico also states that in the last four years the billionaire brothers and their allies have already spent at least $50 million on the effort, which is being spearheaded by a data firm called i360.

The firm i360 connects voter information with social networks, consumer data from credit bureaus, interactions with political campaigns, estimated income, recent home addresses, voting frequency, TV viewing habits, and “even the brand of car they drive,” the report said.

According to Politico, the new i360 operation even rivals the data arm of the national Republican Party.

“The Koch network also has developed in-house expertise in polling, message-testing, fact-checking, advertising, media buying, dial groups and donor maintenance,” wrote Politico reporters Mike Allen and Kenneth Vogel.

“Add mastery of election law, a corporate-minded aggressiveness and years of patient experimentation — plus seemingly limitless cash — and the Koch operation actually exceeds the RNC’s data operation in many important respects.”

A top Republican involved in presidential races told Politico the Koch operations “are the most important nonparty political players in the US today, and no one else is even close.”

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins talks about the Koch brothers with attorney Howard Nations.

Ring of Fire video.

http://boycottkochbrothers.com/blog/

http://www.businessinsider.com/koch-brothers-data-firm-i360-2014-12#ixzz3MqPBy5dv