Public Citizen Profile picture
Public Citizen has been standing up to corporate power and holding government accountable for 50 years. We're people-powered and accept no corporate money.
eDo Profile picture Aviva Gabriel Profile picture Ideasmith 🇵🇸 Profile picture 4 subscribed
Nov 3, 2022 5 tweets 2 min read
Corporations have made over $2,000,000,000,000 in profits combined this year — the highest amount ever recorded.

How the hell can it get away with this?

We did some digging with @Groundwork: Corporations are actively lobbying AGAINST passing legislation to stop price-gouging.

It’s pouring over $820 MILLION on political spending this cycle.

The majority of their efforts went against lowering drug costs. Image
Jun 9, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
Timely reminder of every member of Congress that voted to overturn the 2020 election:

Kevin McCarthy
Ted Cruz
Josh Hawley
Lauren Boebert
Mo Brooks
Marjorie Taylor Greene
Cindy Hyde-Smith
John Kennedy
Cynthia Lummis
Roger Marshall
Rick Scott
Tommy Tuberville
Robert Aderholt Rick Allen
Jodey Arrington
Brian Babin
Jim Baird
Jim Banks
Cliff Bentz
Jack Bergman
Stephanie Bice
Andy Biggs
Dan Bishop
Mike Bost
Ted Budd
Tim Burchett
Michael Burgess
Ken Calvert
Kat Cammack
Jerry Carl
Buddy Carter
John Carter
Madison Cawthorn
Steve Chabot
Ben Cline
Jan 6, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
Today is a good day to remind you of every member of Congress that voted to overturn the 2020 election:

Kevin McCarthy
Ted Cruz
Josh Hawley
Cindy Hyde-Smith
John Kennedy
Cynthia Lummis
Roger Marshall
Rick Scott
Tommy Tuberville
Robert Aderholt
Rick Allen
Jodey Arrington Brian Babin
Jim Baird
Jim Banks
Cliff Bentz
Jack Bergman
Stephanie Bice
Andy Biggs
Dan Bishop
Lauren Boebert
Mike Bost
Mo Brooks
Ted Budd
Tim Burchett
Michael Burgess
Ken Calvert
Kat Cammack
Jerry Carl
Buddy Carter
John Carter
Madison Cawthorn
Steve Chabot
Ben Cline
Michael Cloud
Dec 8, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
BREAKING: The House just passed a $768,000,000,000 defense bill. What an absolute disgrace. What possible justification is there for throwing $768 billion at the Pentagon at the very same moment that we’re being told there isn’t enough money to provide dental care to seniors, establish a paid family leave, or provide free community college?
Sep 24, 2021 8 tweets 7 min read
Here are the Dems trying to kill drug pricing reform

...and how much each has taken from Big Pharma:

@RepScottPeters: $860K

@SenatorCarper: $707K

@RepSchrader: $615K

@SenatorSinema: $519K

@RepStephMurphy: $242K

@RepKathleenRice: $84K

Let them know how you feel. Image @RepScottPeters @SenatorCarper @RepSchrader @SenatorSinema @RepStephMurphy @RepKathleenRice 90% of @RepScottPeters’ constituents support giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices.

So why did Peters vote against it?

Is it because he’s received $860,000 from Big Pharma throughout his career? Image
Aug 16, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
What percentage of your life the U.S. has been at war, by birth year:

1977: 44%
78: 45%
79: 46%
80: 47%
81: 49%
82: 50%
83: 51%
84: 53%
85: 55%
86: 56%
87: 58%
88: 60%
89: 62%
90: 64%
91: 67%
92: 65%
93: 68%
94: 71%
95: 74%
96: 77%
97: 81%
98: 85%
99: 90%
2000: 94%
2001-21: 100% 76: 43%
75: 42%
74: 41%
73: 42%
72: 44%
71: 45%
70: 46%
69: 47%
68: 48%
67: 49%
66: 50%
65: 51%
64: 50%
63: 49%
62: 48%
61: 47%
60: 47%
59: 46%
58: 45%
57: 44%
56: 44%
55: 43%
54: 42%
53: 43%
52: 44%
51: 45%
50: 46%
49: 45%
48: 44%
47: 44%
46: 43%
45: 44%
44: 45%
43: 45%
42: 46%
Jun 22, 2021 6 tweets 3 min read
Here’s @kyrstensinema claiming that the filibuster was “created…to encourage senators to find bipartisanship and work together.”

This is demonstrably false.

Defenders of the filibuster love to whitewash its history.

These lies are insidious. Here is the truth. The filibuster was not part of the founding fathers’ constitutional vision for the Senate.

It was not created to foster a slow, deliberative legislature that protected minority rights.

In reality, the filibuster was created by mistake – and then exploited by racists.
Dec 15, 2020 8 tweets 2 min read
Trump’s lame duck period has been a crime against humanity.

He’s gone on an execution spree, enacted revenge on enemies, and sabotaged the incoming Biden administration.

We’re tracking the most corrupt actions during Trump's last grasp for power. citizen.org/article/lamedu… Trump is quietly sabotaging key regulations. He's:

-Expanding federal execution methods

-Dismantling the migrant asylum system

-Facilitating predatory debt collection

-Removing protected status for the gray wolf

-Approving coal ash in the environment
Jul 27, 2020 10 tweets 2 min read
Mitch McConnell's new coronavirus "relief" proposal is an utter disgrace.

It somehow manages to make the pandemic and economic pain even worse.

Based on what we know, here are some of the most disgraceful elements of this half-baked, watered-down, corporate-bailout proposal: McConnell’s proposal SLASHES FEDERAL UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.

That means millions of Americans will be out looking for work — jobs that, by and large, do not exist — to put food on their tables rather than staying home to help limit the spread of the virus.
Mar 13, 2020 7 tweets 2 min read
BREAKING: We are calling on Trump to resign.

He is a clear and present danger to the nation’s public health and must step down immediately. citizen.org/news/trump-is-… In a time when protecting the nation’s public health demands clear, truthful and compassionate leadership, Trump has offered exactly the opposite.
Feb 4, 2020 4 tweets 3 min read
Students at George Washington University protested their Regulatory Center for being backed and sold out to the Kochs.

Here's how the GW President responded:

“What if the majority of the students agreed to shoot all the black people here? Do I say, Ah, well the majority voted?" The GWU President was right to apologize for his remarks.

Now he should apologize for defending a Koch and Exxon-funded Center as a “legitimately founded academic organization.” It is not. #RegStudies10
washingtonpost.com/local/educatio…
Jan 23, 2020 9 tweets 33 min read
These GOP senators have previously called for impartiality during impeachment proceedings:

@lisamurkowski
@SenPatRoberts
@SenatorBurr
@SenAlexander
@SenatorCollins
@SenatorEnzi
@SenatorRomney

Will they put country over party & stay true to their word?

citizen.org/news/in-their-… Image @lisamurkowski @SenPatRoberts @SenatorBurr @SenAlexander @SenatorCollins @SenatorEnzi @SenatorRomney @MoveOn @IndivisibleTeam @KevinMKruse @GeorgeTakei @LOLGOP @SenateDems @JoyAnnReid @K_JeanPierre @SierraClub @andylassner Sen. Lisa Murkowski has touted her “independence” and has been critical of her colleagues’ lack of impartiality on impeachment.

Murkowski said she was “disturbed” by Mitch McConnell’s collusion with the White House. Image
Oct 2, 2019 12 tweets 2 min read
The GOP demands impeachment - a thread. Lindsey Graham: “A president doesn’t even have to be convicted of a crime to be impeached. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.”
Sep 18, 2019 4 tweets 2 min read
Trump is brazenly lying about the impact of slashing tailpipe emissions standards. Thread. Trump’s attack on California wouldn’t just be detrimental to the state. Air pollution doesn’t stop at state lines, and any attempt to slash tailpipe emissions standards puts the entire country’s health in jeopardy.
Jan 29, 2019 7 tweets 5 min read
LIVE NOW: The first committee hearing on #HR1 — a historic pro-democracy package that includes:

-Automatic voter registration

-Public financing of elections

-An end to gerrymandering

-A constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United

Watch: .@RepJerryNadler: America has increasingly tended toward an oligarchy. #HR1 will correct this drift away from representative democracy by reducing the role of money in politics, restoring ethical standards and integrity to government and strengthening laws to protect voting.
Jan 21, 2019 10 tweets 5 min read
THREAD/ Today is the ninth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s horrendous #CitizensUnited decision. Our democracy has been in crisis ever since. In the all-Trump media environment, it’s easy to think Trump himself is the source of all our problems. But it goes much deeper. So long as a handful of big money donors have outsized influence over who's elected and what's debated in Congress, our democracy will remain broken.
Jan 16, 2019 5 tweets 2 min read
-Ryan Zinke out at Interior, lobbyist in. Zinke gets industry gig.

-Scott Pruitt out at EPA, lobbyist in. Pruitt gets industry gig.

-Tom Price out at HHS, pharma exec in. Price gets industry gig.

A quick thread on the Trump administration’s perfect cycle of corruption: 1) As Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke did the bidding of natural resource plunderers, was immersed in personal scandal, then resigned.

2) A lobbyist took his position at the Interior.

3) Zinke now works for an investment firm focused on energy.
thehill.com/policy/energy-…
Jan 15, 2019 9 tweets 3 min read
William Barr is wholly unfit to be the nation's top law enforcement officer. Here’s why: Barr supports an expansionary theory of presidential power and has refused under questioning to commit to making Mueller’s findings public. slate.com/news-and-polit…
Jan 11, 2019 10 tweets 2 min read
Cheating, scamming and ripping off workers is a Donald Trump tradition that goes back decades. Federal workers are just Trump’s latest victims.

Thread. For decades, Trump repeatedly didn’t pay those who worked for him, and now that he’s in the White House, little has changed. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers and employees of federal contractors are suffering the same fate because of the shutdown. usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
Oct 23, 2018 7 tweets 2 min read
When the Trump administration undertakes pointless and intellectually embarrassing initiatives, we should be glad. Because it means they didn’t do something evil and of consequence. Which bring us to today’s WH report, “Opportunity Costs of Socialism.” 1/ whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl… The report overtly adopts Milton Friedman’s framework: Only good spending is by you, for you (p10). A great argument against public schools, libraries, police, firefighting, NIH, Medicare and parks. 2/
Oct 16, 2018 5 tweets 2 min read
Saudi Arabia has poured money into Trump’s operations and curried favor with $ since he’s been president. THREAD. The Saudi embassy has spent at least $270,000 at Trump’s Washington hotel since the November 2016 election, and the royal family has spent big money at his Chicago and New York hotels since he became president.
washingtonpost.com/politics/i-lik…