{"id":112204,"date":"2014-04-10T19:01:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T19:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=112204"},"modified":"2014-04-10T19:01:10","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T19:01:10","slug":"45-billion-deal-congress-craves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/latest-news\/45-billion-deal-congress-craves\/","title":{"rendered":"The $45 Billion Deal That Congress Craves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Winship\u00a0<\/strong>
\nRINF Alternative News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The US Senate on Wednesday held its first hearing on the proposed Comcast-Time Warner deal \u2013 a $45 billion transaction that will affect millions of consumers and further pad some already well-lined pockets \u2013 so now seems a good time to look at how our elected officials have benefitted from the largesse of the two companies with an urge to merge.<\/p>\n

Although the ultimate decision will be made by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department, according to the\u00a0Sunlight Foundation<\/a>, a reliable, nonpartisan watchdog, \u201cThe number one and number two cable providers in the country are also big-time on the influence circuit, giving upwards of a combined $42.4 million to various politicians and groups since 1989.<\/p>\n

The Sunlight Foundation\u2019s Influence Explorer tool also shows that the two companies have spent a combined $143.5 million lobbying Congress since 1989 on issues including telecommunications, technology, taxes and copyright.<\/p>\n

President Barack Obama benefitted the most, by far, from\u00a0Comcast<\/a>, whose employees and their family members contributed more than $537,800. Two Texans \u2013 Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst \u2013 are the top recipients of contributions from\u00a0Time Warner Cable<\/a>, receiving $185,000 and $170,000, respectively.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Three Democratic and three Republican members of the Judiciary Committee are up for reelection this year and almost all have profited at least a bit from Comcast and\/or Time Warner contributions, but the Democrats have come out ahead, the Sunlight Foundation reports. Minnesota Democrat Al Franken \u2013 an outspoken critic of the merger described as \u201ca fundraising powerhouse\u201d by Sunlight \u2013 has received $15,050 from Comcast and $13,350 from Time Warner, as per the\u00a0Center for Responsive Politics\u2019 OpenSecrets.org<\/a>, and has pulled in $54,500 from individuals who have worked for Comcast-owned NBC Universal, including \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d executive producer Lorne Michaels.<\/p>\n

As for the other two Democrats, Delaware\u2019s Chris Coons and Senate majority whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, Comcast has been Coons\u2019 third-highest overall contributor ($53,300) and the senator has gotten $3,000 from Time Warner Cable employees. Durbin has received $51,700 from Comcast-affiliated employees and $3,500 from Time Warner employees.<\/p>\n

Of the three up for reelection on the Republican side, Alabama\u2019s Jeff Sessions, John Cornyn of Texas and South Carolina\u2019s Lindsey Graham, the\u00a0Sunlight Foundation<\/a>\u00a0notes that none have been \u201csignificant Comcast beneficiaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, the three Southern state senators have received a total of $31,500 from Comcast and Comcast-affiliated employees, a sliver of the almost $70 million the three have raised in total during their respective runs for federal office.\u00a0Time Warner employees have given $30,700 to Graham and $10,500 to Cornyn. Sessions has not received any money from Time Warner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It should be noted, however, that since 1989, Comcast has given at least $470,170 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee \u2013 and $640,625 to its Democratic counterpart.<\/p>\n

Yes, you might not be able to get decent cable service or a good Wi-Fi signal but when it comes to Congress, Comcast is quite the attentive suitor. As\u00a0Politico<\/a><\/em>\u00a0reported last month, including those up for reelection this year, \u201c\u2026 money from Comcast\u2019s political action committee has flowed to all but three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Checks have landed in the campaign coffers of Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT), who oversee the chamber\u2019s antitrust panel.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the cable giant has donated in some way to 32 of the 39 members of the House Judiciary Committee, which is planning a hearing of its own. And Comcast has canvassed the two congressional panels that chiefly regulate cable, broadband and other telecom issues, donating to practically every lawmaker there \u2013 including Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).<\/p>\n

Comcast stresses its donations are a function of its business. \u201cComcast NBCUniversal operates in 39 states and has 130,000 employees across the country,\u201d said spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice. \u201cIt is important for our customers, our employees and our shareholders that we participate in the political process. The majority of our PAC contributions are to the senators and members who represent our employees and customers.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clearly, Comcast is paying for the premium package. Its money was donated before the proposed big deal with Time Warner, but its \u201cproactive giving<\/a>,\u201d as Sunlight\u2019s executive director Ellen Miller calls it, \u201cso that when a corporation needs access in a time of trouble, investigation or oversight, they have already built the quote-unquote relationships they need to soften or make their arguments to a sympathetic audience\u2026 It\u2019s a long-term investment they make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remember that the next time you get your ever-spiraling cable bill. Just think of it as a long-term investment.<\/p>\n

Michael Winship, senior writing fellow at Demos and president of the Writers Guild of America-East, is senior writer for Bill Moyers’ new weekend show\u00a0Moyers & Company<\/a><\/strong>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Winship\u00a0 RINF Alternative News The US Senate on Wednesday held its first hearing on the proposed Comcast-Time Warner deal \u2013 a $45 billion transaction that will affect millions of consumers and further pad some already well-lined pockets \u2013 so now seems a good time to look at how our elected officials have benefitted from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-112204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}