America For Sale: New Report Documents Cost of Republican Corruption for American People

Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY-28), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, released a report, “America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption”, documenting the unprecedented level of corruption which has come to define Congress and the federal government under Republican leadership.

“America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption”, presents for the first time a comprehensive review and analysis of the major ethics scandals which have shaken Washington during the last five years of Republican rule, and reveals how deep the culture of corruption nurtured by the Republican Party’s leadership goes.

“This report explains why all Americans should be upset about the culture of corruption that has developed under the Republican Congress and the Bush White House,” Rep. Slaughter said. “It shows how the unprecedented levels of corruption in our legislative process and in our federal government are not just an “Inside the Beltway” problem.”

“When the lobbyists get to set the agenda and write the bills, the American people suffer the consequences,” she continued. “When 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.”

“This report will demonstrate how the corruption in Republican-controlled Washington has harmed our country,” Rep. Slaughter said. “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 more power to shape legislation than the legislators the people have elected to represent them in Washington.”

“For the first time, this report tries to quantify the damage the Republican Congress and Bush White House have inflicted on our country,” Rep. Slaughter concluded.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE REPORT

America for Sale, which is 118 pages long and contains 659 pages of backup documentation, explains in detail how, under the control of the Republican party:

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

*60 million American families who heat their homes with natural gas and 8 million families 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 may not have the equipment they need because of waste, fraud and cronyism by the Republican Congress and the Department of Defense. 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.

*750,000 households in the Gulf regions are still displaced today, more than 5 months after Hurricane Katrina hit that region, at least in part because the political hacks the Bush Administration put in charge of crucial homeland security functions were not adequately prepared to prepare for or respond to this disaster.

*More than 10 million students and their families will have larger student loans to repay because House Republicans, led by new Majority Leader John Boehner working hand-in-hand with his commercial loan industry allies, cut $12 billion from the student loan program in the recent reconciliation bill and shifted the costs on to students and their families.