April 20, 2018

Wyden Demands Trump, Officials Reveal Extent of Koch Brothers’ Influence on Administration

Washington, D.C. – Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today sent a series of letters to the Trump administration demanding further information about the Koch brothers’ increasing influence over the White House and its policymaking.

The letters from Wyden and five other senators follow a report sent last December by the Kochs’ Seminar Network to wealthy donors detailing policy wins within the Trump Administration directly benefitting Koch businesses.

“Americans have a right to know if special interests are unduly influencing public policy decisions that have profound implications for public health, the environment, and the economy,” the senators wrote in their letters.

The Kochs’ report outlines a range of extreme policies the Trump administration has executed or pursued, including undermining the Affordable Care Act and programs that provide health care to millions of Americans; attacks on essential environmental protections that ensure the health and safety of all Americans; eroding workers’ right to organize for better pay and working conditions; stacking federal courts with radical conservative judges to deliver consistently for the wealthy and corporations; privatizing the Department of Veterans Affairs; threating the promise of health care for our servicemembers and veterans; and a wildly unfair tax proposal designed to benefit the wealthiest few.

In addition to the White House, the senators sent letters to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Leandra English, Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie, and National Labor Relations Board Chairman Marvin Kaplan.

Wyden was joined by the following senators in signing on to the letter: Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. , and Tom Udall, D-N.M.

The full letter can be found here.

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