NEW: Senator Collins Among Biggest Beneficiaries of Wall Street Cash After Voting for GOP Tax Giveaway 

Collins gets a Wall Street windfall as new reports show the tax giveaway she voted for could mean even more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans if toxic GOP health care lawsuit succeeds

A new analysis shows that Senator Susan Collins is among the top recipients of private-equity cash in the U.S. Senate. Wall Street executives are “spending big to defend their industry’s interests,” and after Senator Collins voted for the GOP’s corporate tax giveaway, she’s reaping the benefits -- reporting the third-highest amount of Wall Street money of any Senator running in 2020.

Senator Collins has defended her vote for the tax giveaway and said she “would support it again today,” even though it laid the foundation for Republicans’ toxic lawsuit to overturn protections for hundreds of thousands of Mainers with pre-existing conditions. New reports show that the wealthiest Americans and the pharmaceutical industry would benefit the most if the lawsuit succeeds, while millions of Americans would lose the health care protections they rely on.

Here’s why Wall Street executives are spending big to prop up Senator Collins:

Wall Street Journal: Private-Equity Executives Throw Weight Into 2020 Elections

  • Private-equity executives are playing a familiar role in political races unfolding across the country: spending big to defend their industry’s interests.
  • “The Senate is the big game in town right now,” said a lobbyist who represents private-equity firms and other financial-services companies.
  • Lobbyists say private equity benefits from a divided Congress, which makes it hard to pass new laws affecting the industry. Many executives are focusing their efforts on keeping a Republican majority in the Senate.
  • Mr. Schwarzman’s largest contribution this cycle was $500,000 to 1820 PAC, a group supporting the re-election campaign of Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine).
  • Ms. Collins is… among the Senate’s top recipients of private-equity money.

CNBC: Wealthy Americans will receive billions in tax cuts if Obamacare is overturned, new report says

  • The rich will likely receive billions in tax cuts if the health-care law is overturned, according to a new analysis published Monday from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank.
  • The nation’s top 0.001%, the 1,409 U.S. households with annual incomes over $53 million, would receive a combined $3.8 billion in tax cuts if the law is overturned, according to the report.
  • Most of these tax cuts would go to households with incomes over $1 million, who would receive tax cuts averaging about $46,000 apiece, according to the report.
  • The pharmaceutical industry would also benefit. Obamacare collects an annual fee from pharmaceutical companies that sell branded prescription drugs.
  • While the nation’s wealthiest taxpayers and pharmaceutical companies would benefit, the middle-class and poor would be at a disadvantage. About 25 million Americans may be left uninsured if the law is struck down in its entirety, including those insured through Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.

###