Chances are, you've heard of Joe Barton. A Texas Republican and ranking member of the House Energy Committee, Barton famously apologized to BP earlier this month, saying:
I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown. In this case a $20 billion shakedown.
Here's what happened next: after a series of tense conversations with GOP leadership, Rep. Barton apologized for his apology. Then, when Joe realized he wouldn't be stripped of his rank on the energy committee, he retracted the second apology. Confused? So are we. But the reasons behind Rep. Barton's affection for the oil industry are hardly confusing: he's received $1.5M in campaign donations from oil companies, and he owns an awful lot of BP stock.
Joe Barton's apology-go-round hints at a truth about the Republicans in Washington: they're happy to side with corporate interests over the needs of the American people. Thousands of families and livelihoods have been ruined by worst oil spill in American history, but the man who may shape America's energy policy come November was clearly more interested in apologizing to the people who caused it than the people who've suffered.
It's not just Rep. Barton, either. It's Senator Scott Brown (R-MA), who took in $450k from banks in 6 days, and now wants banks to have fewer restrictions on them. Last week, every Republican in the House of Representatives voted "no" on a bill that would require corporations to disclose their influence on American elections. And in the Senate, every Republican voted "no" on a bill that would extend unemployment benefits to Americans affected by the recession, a recession caused by the corporations Republicans work to protect.
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