Credit: Brennan Center for Justice

As Congress is poised to push through a historically unpopular tax bill, it’s worth revisiting a piece by our colleague Daniel Weiner, noting the forthrightness with which members of Congress have made clear that donors have been driving this process. A cynical public has long believed that “candidates who win public office promote policies that directly help the people and groups who donated money to their campaigns,” but rarely have we seen both officeholders and donors themselves state this so openly. It’s worth asking: Has something changed? We think so. But first, let’s look at some of those statements.

On the officeholder side, to take but one example, Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) told the Hill newspaper, “My donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.’” And Steven Law, president of the Senate Leadership Fund and former chief of staff to Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell noted “[Donors] would be mortified if we didn’t live up to what we’ve committed to […]