The Cost of Republican Corruption

A letter from Rep. Louise M. Slaughter:

Last week, my office from the House Rules Committee released a report, America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption , which explains how the Republican culture of corruption is harming our country. For the first time, this report tries to quantify the damage the Republican Congress and Bush White House have inflicted on our country. It shows how the harmful policies Republicans have passed into law over the past few years are the result of a corrupt process that gives "K Street Project" lobbyists [corporations] more power to shape legislation...

I urge you to read this report, and share it with your family, friends, and neighbors who might not be as politically plugged in as you. Invite
them to read this important report today by using this link:
http://www.votelouise.com/page/invite/AmericaforSale

They have a right to know that their government is working on behalf of the special interests, not the public interest. Our report clearly demonstrates that when the GOP Congressional leaders allow Republican lobbyists to set the agenda and write the bills, the American people suffer the consequences. While the special interests walk away with billions of dollars in tax breaks, subsidies, and federal contracts, Americans must live with the bad laws this system produces. The political corruption we associate with now-notorious figures such as Duke Cunningham and Jack Abramoff comes at a very real cost to each and every one of us.

"America for Sale" explains in detail how, under the control of the Republican party:

14.2 million American seniors (including millions of our sickest and most vulnerable) are stuck in a complicated, expensive, and inefficient Medicare prescription drug program. This is because the Republican Congress and the Bush Administration allowed lobbyists from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries to design this program.

Sixty million American families who heat with natural gas and eight million who heat with heating oil are paying higher bills this winter,even though the Republican Congress recently passed their "national energy plan" into law. Although this plan gives the energy industry billions in new tax breaks and subsidies, it doesn't lower prices for consumers or make our country more energy independent.

The 150,000 U.S. troops currently deployed in Iraq do not have the equipment that they need because of waste, fraud and cronyism by the Republican Congress. While Halliburton and other companies with Republican connections get their contracts, our soldiers still don't have the body armor and armored vehicles they need to fight the war.

Seven hundred fifty thousand households in the Gulf regions are still displaced today, more than five months after Hurricane Katrina hit that region. This is so at least in part because the political hacks that the Bush Administration put in charge of crucial homeland security were not adequately prepared to respond to this disaster.

More than ten million students and their families will have larger student loans to repay. This serious disabling of education occurred because House Republicans, led by John Boehner, working hand-in-hand with his commercial-loan industry allies, cut twelve billion dollars from the student loan program.

These are just some of the examples from the report which shows how the recent unprecedented, subversion of our legislative process and federal government is not simply an "inside the beltway" problem.

Thank you again for all you do to restore faith in our democracy.

In Solidarity,

Rep. Louise M. Slaughter