Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. REID. Mr. President, Charles and David Koch are trying to buy America. They have the money to try and do just that. Because of the Supreme Court's wrong and disastrous Citizens United ruling, the Koch brothers' dark political money has infected our democracy.

One need only look at our national politics to see how the Kochs are influencing our government. Even now, these two billionaires are committed to spending $900 million to advance a radical agenda during this election cycle. It is no surprise, then, that virtually every Republican Presidential candidate kowtows to these two oil, tar sands, and coal barons from Kansas. Republican Presidential hopefuls all kiss the rings of the Kochs, hoping that some of their filthy money finds its way into their campaign coffers. It is disgusting, and it is wrong.

But the Koch brothers aren't just trying to buy the highest office in the land. They are not just trying to help themselves at the Federal level. They are also trying to buy our democracy from the bottom up. In statehouses and city halls all across our great country, the Koch brothers and their vast spending network are turning local governments into agencies of the Koch empire. They are trying to turn America into a Koch-financed oligarchy.

It seems there is no issue too local nor policy matter too small to escape the Koch brothers' wrath. They want to impose their radical agenda on the American people on every issue, no matter the cost to families and communities.

Just look at what they are doing in Colorado Springs, CO. ``The Potholes of Colorado Springs draw the attention of Koch brothers' group.'' This is a headline from last weekend's Washington Post. The Koch brothers are fighting the city's efforts to fix its crumbling roads. Reading from the article:

This much everyone can agree on: The streets of this large city on the Rocky Mountain Front Range are a wreck. Sixty percent are in disrepair, cracked and rutted; driving on them is often a game of vehicular Minesweeper. One local TV news channel runs a segment called ``Pothole Patrol.''

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But when this city's newly elected conservative mayor urged voters to approve an increase in the sales tax to pay to improve the roads, he drew fire from an unexpected source: a branch of Americans for Prosperity, a powerful conservative advocacy group backed by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.

The Koch brothers aren't interested in advancing solutions. They are interested in sending a message. They are willing to attack everyone, even conservative Republicans who cross their extreme agenda.

This is the basic work of government the Koch brothers want to destroy. All Colorado Springs and its Republican mayor want to do is to determine their own fate, fund their own roads, and make their own laws. But in March, Americans for Prosperity, beholden to Charles and David Koch's pocketbook, simply shut down the entire process of local, community-based government. It is unbelievable they would do this.

The Koch brothers don't want the people of Colorado Springs to find their own solutions to fix potholes in Colorado Springs, and they are willing to pay to make sure that doesn't happen.

That is only one city, and I don't have time to mention all. The Kochs are doing this all over America. Here is another headline from the Nashville Tennessean. ``Koch brothers group works to stop Nashville Amp.'' Here is the quote:

The movement to stop a Nashville mass transit plan has gotten an extra boost of horsepower from an unexpected source: the Koch brothers, out-of-state billionaires.

But there are many more examples. ``Americans for Prosperity spent $62,795 to defeat zoo levy.'' Think about that. They are so focused on doing everything they can to run this great Nation not from the top down but the bottom up. This was the headline from the Columbus Dispatch last year.

The Koch brothers' main political arm in Ohio fought against the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium tax levy. Why? Because the Kochs have a Georgia-Pacific plant nearby and they did not want to pay their fair share of taxes. Think about that. These are multibillionaires.

It is estimated to be worth $150 to $200 billion. They are afraid their company, Georgia-Pacific, may have to pay a few extra dollars in taxes in Ohio.

The Los Angeles Times: ``Koch brothers, big utilities attack solar, green energy policies.''

This is a headline from the L.A. Times, as we can see, and it reads:

The Koch brothers, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist and some of the nation's largest power companies have backed efforts in recent months to roll back state policies that favor green energy. The conservative luminaries have pushed campaigns in Kansas, North Carolina and Arizona, with the battle rapidly spreading to other states. ..... Both sides say the fight is growing more intense as new states, including Ohio, South Carolina and Washington, enter the fray.

Potholes in Colorado--they want to stop anything to do with renewable energy in Tennessee. They are going to stop a zoo and aquarium in Columbus, OH, or nearby. They want to stop any type of renewable energy because it slows down their tar sands business, their oil business, and their coal business.

In Nevada, the Koch brothers and their foot soldiers are meddling in many issues--really, too many to count. They have been trying to upend Nevada's open primary process. They have encouraged young Nevadans to stay out of the State's health exchanges. They fought attempts to raise Nevada's cigarette tax. They have used the State legislature to undermine labor unions. These are only a few examples of the Kochs' ``Buy America'' plan.

What the Koch brothers are doing in Nevada and all of the States that we talked about this morning is shameful. They are using their deep pockets and their shadowy organizations to try and buy a government that serves them, not the American people. They aren't even trying to hide it anymore. As one radical activist happily noted to the Washington Post, ``the Koch brothers, they may write a check'' to promote their ultraconservative ideology. They are writing more than a check or two. Charles and David and their allies are writing $900 million worth of checks--$900 million spent against rebuilding our Nation's roads and bridges, against a fair shot for all Americans, against raising the minimum wage, and against the hundreds of thousands of American jobs supported by the Export-Import Bank.

The Kochs have a lot of money to spend. They are using a tiny bit of it, which is huge amounts of money--about $1 billion this election cycle--to do other kinds of things. They want to promote criminal justice reform. That is nice. I am glad they are on the right side of something--finally. That could be one reason they are interested in this--because they have been in the past prosecuted for doing things that have been illegal and criminal in the nature of prosecutors. They have fought back against these things.

We have been talking about the criminal justice system long before the Kochs got involved. That is well and nice that they are embracing reform now, but it does not negate the many bad things they are doing to hurt American families.

The Koch brothers' priorities are wrong for the middle class and they are wrong for all America. It is time that we let the Koch brothers know that our country isn't for sale. It is time that we let every power-hungry billionaire know they can't buy our government. Whether it is the city hall of Colorado Springs or the halls of Congress, you should not be able to buy America's democracy. The question is this: Are the Kochs going to buy America, because they are certainly trying to? It is up to every American to say no.

Mr. President, I note that there is no one else on the floor. So would the Chair announce the business of the day.

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