What’s a Co-Sponsor, and how much do they cost?

If it isn’t a Big Tobacco bailout, then why did the Big Tobacco companies spend more than $3 million in just 20 days lobbying Congress to approve H.R.4134? I know, sometimes the obvious is right in front of our noses, but we just can’t see it. Maybe people haven’t yet grasped the sellout occurring here because they want to believe “innocent until proven guilty.” I get it. Some people don’t want to believe that some folks in Congress really are “bought off” by special interests. It’s like that guy who said, “I can’t see the forest through these darn trees.”

Can you see the forest? Or are those trees in the way…

Good morning and welcome to the Wednesday edition of TaxTracker! We’re revved up and ready for another busy mid-week crush toward legislative armageddon, brought to you by the U.S. House and Senate. Today, let’s look at how neatly things line up between Big Tobacco and H.R. 4134 (and the similar provision already stuffed in the Senate’s highway bill).

U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-Tennessee) introduced H.R. 4134 on March 5, 2012. Her bill “reclassifies” small retail tobacco shops where you can roll your own smokes as tobacco product “manufacturers” and subject to a whole heap of new taxes regulations. The Congressional Budget Office looked at the whole “roll your own” smokes issue and concluded if these retail shops are reclassified as “manufacturers,” they’ll be forced to shut down because they won’t be able to bear the new costs. Rep. Black’s H.R.4134 was such an immediate hit, there were no fewer than 60 lobbyists dispatched to Congress to lobby for its passage. Check it for yourself, it’s in the lobbyist disclosure database. In just 20 days between March 5 and March 31, the Big Tobacco companies ALL disclosed they spent millions urging Congress to act.

Question: What’s a cosponsor? 

Answer: After a bill is introduced in Congress, the author typically wants to show leadership there’s enough support to pass the bill in the House or Senate, so he or she gathers “co-sponsors.” These cosponsors are people who agree enough with the bill to sign their name on to it for all the public to see. Signing on as a cosponsor is easy; you just tell the bill’s author, “put me on!” But, getting off a bill is difficult and exposes ALL SORTS of problems. To remove your name from cosponsoring a bill, you have to go the the House chamber and publicly ask the Speaker controlling debate to remove your name from a bill. Imagine all the questions a reporter wants to ask a member of Congress who changes their mind about something like that!

Question: Who’s a cosponsor of H.R.4134? 

Answer: On H.R.4134, there are a lot of cosponsors. Last time I checked, it was about 74. Who are they? Well, let’s take a look.

Rep. Joe Crowley

The first cosponsor was U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley (D-New York). I took a look at his Federal Elections Commission disclosures and imagine my surprise to find out he’s taken in excess of $30,000 in campaign contributions from the Big Tobacco companies!

Rep. Renee Ellmers

Another cosponsor, U.S. Representative Renee Ellmers (R-North Carolina) joined H.R.4134 on March 8, 2012. Looking at her Federal Elections Commissions reports, she’s taken more than $22,000 from the Big Tobacco companies in the form of campaign contributions. By the way, the first dollar of that >$22,000 rolled into her account WAY BACK in the year 2010.

Rep. Charles Rangel

Another cosponsor, U.S. Representative Charles Rangel (D-New York): More than $54,000 in recent years taken in campaign contributions from Big Tobacco companies.

Rep. Tom Marino

Another cosponsor, U.S. Representative Tom Marino (R-Pennsylvania): He’s a freshman who just got into office. >$5,000 from Big Tobacco (plus some other groups pushing for HR4134).

Rep. Tom Cole

Another cosponsor, U.S. Representative Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma): This former top official at the Republican National Committee has more than $20,000 in Big Tobacco campaign cash.

Rep. Kevin Yoder

Another cosponsor, U.S. Representative Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas): >$15,000 from Big Tobacco

Rep. John Sullivan

Another cosponsor, U.S. Representative John Sullivan (R-Oklahoma): >$30,000 from Big Tobacco

Rep. Bill Shuster

Another cosponsor, U.S. Representative Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania): >$55,000 from Big Tobacco and the convenience stores PAC that supports HR4134.

Rep. Marsha (don’t call me Jan) Blackburn

Another cosponsor, U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee): >$24,000 from ONE Big Tobacco company alone!!

And let’s not forget the original “author” of the Big Tobacco bailout bill, U.S. Representative Diane Black (R-Tennessee).

U.S. Rep. Diane Black

Non-Party Affiliated Water Buffalo

TODAY’S MESSAGE: @LawmakerXYZ The #jobs agenda does NOT include a #BigTobacco bailout in the highway bill! http://bit.ly/NewTax

Comparing the cosponsor sheet for H.R.4134 to who has given to each member’s campaign coffers could go on for DAYS, and maybe it will. I am not contending that just because Big Tobacco and other self-interested groups gave HUGE sums of cash to each individual above that they received any special treatment; I mean, WHY would any office immediately grant a meeting with tobacco company lobbyists to discuss a bill that was barely a few days old, hadn’t had a hearing, smelled like a Big Tobacco bailout, and had nothing to do with job creation or saving small puppies and kittens?

If we can get along, why can’t Congress stop the Big Tobacco bailout?

OUR MISSION: Spread the word! The Big Tobacco bailout is alive and it won’t be dead until it is. Like those pouty vampires from that Twilight series that won’t go away, the Big Tobacco companies are swarming Capitol Hill, telling members of Congress they HAVE to do this. Well, we’re the people. WE the people of these United States demand Congress protect free enterprise and REJECT any attempts to use the Federal government to unfairly heap taxes and regulations on small businesses. Let’s STAY LOUD on the Twitter-verse, in the Facebook, on that sign-in sheet at the town hall meeting, phone, telepathy, and stick marks in the sand. Go be heard! See you online.

-GR

Cat Fight

We have voices. We have voices in our local communities and through the world wide web. We have voices on Twitter and Facebook. We have voices on television, radio and newspapers. We are getting our message out that the Big Tobacco bailout is wrong, unfair, and not what government ought to do. Witness what I found written about the big tobacco bailout in a letter to the editors of the Times-Tribune in Scranton, Pennsylvania:

Squeeze play by big tobacco

Editor: I am increasingly convinced nothing in Washington happens for the greater good; it only happens for special interests. Congress constantly talks about helping small business, but behind the scenes they’re hurting us.

In the 2012 highway bill expiring June 30, the U.S. Senate inserted a provision that will put retail locations like mine out of business. Three years ago, I opened my first store in Scranton where people can roll their own custom-blended tobacco cigarettes. Since then, my business has expanded in size and number of employees. I fill a market niche because my customers prefer their own tobacco blends over what’s commercially available.

But because I’m taking away a fraction of market share, Altria, Lorillard, R.J. Reynolds and other “Big Tobacco” interests are urging Congress to “reclassify” my retail stores as “tobacco manufacturing facilities,” subjecting my business to an unbearable regime of taxes and regulations no retail location could ever meet.

I know “Big Tobacco” is behind this from the U.S. Senate’s lobbying disclosure database. In 20 days, Altria, Lorillard and R.J.Reynolds spent more than $700,000 on at least 15 firms to help them lobby Congress for this provision. This doesn’t even include the millions these companies spend each quarter on in-house lobbyists. I opened stores in my native Pennsylvania because the business climate promotes success. Everything I have was built on the backbone of free enterprise, but that’s in jeopardy if this provision becomes law. Unfortunately, as a sponsor of H.R.4134, U.S. Rep. Tom Marino supports this bad provision despite my repeated requests to oppose it. The same is true of Sen. Bob Casey. I’m asking them to strip this legislation from the 2012 highway bill and stop it from moving any further. I hope Congress stops this.

JOSEPH FADDEN

Kudos to Mr. Fadden for speaking up and telling it like it is for people to see! Rep. Marino and Sen. Casey, please take note your people are watching…

Today’s Message: @LawmakerXYZ Strip it and forget it! The #BigTobacco bailout in the highway bill is a #jobs killer! http://bit.ly/NewTax

We have a voice, so let’s use it against Big Tobacco!

Good morning! It’s June 19, 2012 and the House and Senate are talking about the highway bill. Today, a meeting is scheduled between House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representative John Mica (R-FL). The four are gathering to trade notes and possibly make a decision on whether they can revive the big burrito 2012 transportation bill and move it forward, OR whether they should extend the current bill for a few months. As one of the news articles pointed out this morning, there isn’t a lot of time or opportunity left in this month for huge new pieces of legislation to get through both houses of Congress, and June 30 is when the current transportation authorization expires. It will be the judgement of the four individuals meeting today whether they continue down the path of destroying more than 1,000 small businesses, or letting them live to fight another day. If they move toward the latter option, an extension, then they’ll immediately cat fight about how long that extension is: six weeks or six months.

The Big Tobacco cat fight, coming soon to an arena near you.

When I think about Congress just throwing their hands up and deciding, “Yah, let’s just do a bill and be done with the matter for six years,” I’m troubled. That’s what Sens. Boxer and Reid are pushing. But it’s that kind of thinking that reminds me of the maxim, “Haste makes waste.” Of the hundreds and thousands of pages in the highway bill and the code it references, I can’t imagine lawmakers wouldn’t be more careful about the potential impact of their actions. But, that’s what we’re guarding against today: Hasty actions that would give Big Tobacco their bailout and sell us down the river.

What happens if Big Tobacco wins its provision to reclassify small retail smoke shops as “manufacturers” subject to huge new taxes and regulations? Small business goes out of business. Members of Congress, need we remind you who will suffer from your approving a Big Tobacco bailout??

OUR MISSION: Remind our lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives that we do not agree with leaving a Big Tobacco bailout in the highway bill. We don’t like government picking winners and losers and crushing thousands of small business jobs just as a favor to Big Tobacco.

Draft Campaign Script

It’s a tight deal. You have an objective, a goal and you see your path to getting there. You have some friends or coworkers who share your vision and so you all band together to support each other’s desire to achieve your goal. So you start down the path knowing there are consequences for straying from your objective. All of a sudden, along comes huge Big Tobacco gust of wind and…

Today’s Message: Stay on creating #jobs, not killing them with a #BigTobacco bailout in the highway bill http://bit.ly/NewTax

Good Morning! It’s Monday, June 18, 2012 and Sir Paul McCartney turns 70 today. The U.S. House of Representatives is back in session and both the House and the Senate are scheduled to stay in session until the July 4 break. In that time period, they have a lot of legislation on their agenda including some expiring student loan interest rate provisions, the farm bill, Food and Drug Administration reform, and the notorious, Big-Tobacco infiltrated, small-business, job-killing-if-they-approve-the-Senate-version, highway bill.

If you think Congress can get to agreement on ALL of those issues before July 4, God bless your optimism. From what I’ve seen, these jokers have a hard time approving bathroom breaks. Each member of each party has their own custom objective in their sights, but they also perceive a great deal to lose if they stray from the path that got them this far. Some members of Congress are walking the line on reducing taxes, regulations and government spending; others are walking the line of creating new government programs to help folks who might be in crisis; still other folks are calling for an investigation and then dismantling of the Federal Reserve. They all have their goals, and all along their paths little gusts of wind come along in the form of legislation.

That’s why it is SO aggravating when I hear members of Congress get on the television and TALK about the dire need to reduce Federal taxes and regulations, but then go around and support a Big Tobacco bailout, H.R.4134 and the version that’s been stuffed into the Senate’s version of the 2012 highway bill. If we’re going to keep our form of representative government, there is no more treacherous breach of trust than telling voters you’re going to fight for small business, but then you take a dive when Big Tobacco throws the first punch.

Can you imagine a campaign ad where U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-Tennessee) stands up and tells people what she’s really about and what she does in Congress?

I can. Here’s a sample script for Rep. Diane Black’s consideration. This is only a draft script; we anxiously await Ms. Black’s edits:

TV SCRIPT

Time: 60 SECONDS

Title: “Black for Congress: Elect Me and I will…”

Diane Black: “I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, the birthplace of bureaucracy and self-preserving government jobs. After 34 years, I moved to Tennessee to follow my wealthy inventor husband. In my spare time I made a goal of getting back to the nation’s capital city and, working with tons of campaign cash from the Big Tobacco companies and other special interests, I did. [voice continues after banjo riff]

“Once in Washington, I started telling Tennesseans I was working hard for them. I made speeches, sent out news releases, held town halls, and even met one-on-one with voters to promise them I will fight for lower taxes and fewer regulations. But on March 5 of this year, I introduced a bill that will heap a lot of new taxes and regulations on small retail tobacco shops. [voice continues after trombones start loud marching-style melody]

“My legislation will shut down more than 1,000 U.S. small businesses and force thousands more out of work. The Big Tobacco companies like my legislation so much they spent more than THREE MILLION dollars in 20 days lobbying my colleagues for it’s approval. If you re-elect me, I won’t talk about this bill or why I introduced it, but I will keep working for those interests that contribute to my campaign, no matter how many jobs are lost or how many promises I have to make and break. I’m Diane Black and I approved this message.” [voice ends; music trails off]

Can you imagine? I’ll bet you a shiny new penny Congresswoman Black will have at least a couple of edits to the script. We understand. First of all, what’s the bumper sticker line? Every campaign needs a bumper sticker slogan… You know, something like, “Vote Black, because she’ll sell out” or “Black is back, with Big Tobacco” or maybe “Diane Black for Congress: I’m Listening 2 Big Tobacco”

Oddly enough, Ms. Black is a member of the U.S. House Republican Policy Committee. This is a committee formed back in 1949 and the current charter is to, “work diligently on common sense solutions that speak for the American people remove barriers to economic growth, balance the budget, reduce the size and scope of government, implement patient-centered health care reforms, and keep the country safe.” We think it’s only a matter of time before Ms. Black is excoriated at the Policy Committee’s meetings for introducing the tax hikes and regulation increases contained in H.R.4134. If she’s developing these kind of ideas for the rest of the Republican members of the House, it doesn’t seem she’s going to keep her membership card to this particular club.

OUR MISSION: After we receive Ms. Black’s edits to her campaign commercial, we’ll be very busy in production. Until then, let’s get on the Twitter and Facebook and send some messages to the folks who can make a difference. Here are the Twitter handles of some of the Republican Policy Committee members. Then should hear our message about the highway bill and the Big Tobacco bailout. They have to understand we are watching their tightrope walk, and we’re here to support them as long as they stick to their words. What member of Congress wants to conduct bad public policy or use the power of the government to pick winners or losers. Members need our help to stay on course and stay out of the water.

• Rick Berg (ND) @RepRickBerg
• Judy Biggert (IL) @JudyBiggert
• Gus Bilirakis (FL) @RepGusBilirakis
• Rob Bishop (UT) @RepRobBishop
• Diane Black (TN) @RepDianeBlack
• Paul Broun (GA) @RepPaulBrounMD
• John Fleming (LA) @RepFleming
• Cory Gardner (CO) @RepCoryGardener
• Chris Gibson (NY) @RepChrisGibson
• Phil Gingrey (GA) @RepPhilGingrey
• Tom Graves (GA) @RepTomGraves
• Morgan Griffith (VA) @RepMGriffith
• Alan Nunnelee (MS) @RepAlanNunnelee
• Mike Pompeo (KS) @MikePompeo
• Tom Price (GA) @RepTomPrice
• Tom Reed (NY) @RepTomReed
• Jim Renacci (OH) @RepJimRenacci
• Mike Rogers (AL) @RepMikeRogersAL

Be good! See you online.

-GR

Big Tobacco’s Bridge to Nowhere

Ahh, summertime. Hot with thunderstorms in the afternoon and sweltering humidity. You almost feel sorry for folks who have to wear sport coats and ties in that kind of heat. But, it’s okay. Those are members of Congress and they’re used to pressure cooker conditions! See Congressman John Mica in the photo? He’s wearing the black and gray tie. He was in Volusia County, Florida yesterday, braving the heat to celebrate the ground breaking for a new commuter rail line.

What can we make of the fact that Congressman Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and lead Republican for the highway bill negotiations, is not in Washington negotiating a final highway bill? Not much. Staff are still reportedly working behind the scenes to try and cut a deal, but everyone watching says there’s not a lot of trust between the House Republicans and Senate Democrats (imagine) and even less progress toward a final bill. As far as I’m concerned, the less chance the Senate-passed highway bill has of moving anywhere, the better for all of us who like the freedom to roll our own smokes.

Hello and happy Tuesday, June 12, 2012! Without a doubt, highways, bridges and other transportation projects are important for commerce, but Congress must NOT sell out the free enterprise system while passing bills for these things. After all, free enterprise via our small businesses is the job-creating backbone of our country! Did you know small businesses represent 99.7 percent of ALL employers in our country, employing about half of all private sector employees? AND small businesses have generated 65 percent of new jobs over the past 17 years? (Thank you Small Business Administration for those stats). It’s true. Small business entrepreneurs are keeping the economy moving, employing people, paying good wages and (too many) taxes. Even in the current economy, small businesses are hanging on because the entrepreneurial spirit knows better times are ahead.

Enter Big Tobacco and the Federal government.

Big Tobacco wants ZERO competition and they’re using Congress to get their way.

Who would have thought with ALL THE TALK about creating jobs for our economy that Congress would entertain the idea of using unnecessary taxes and regulations to shut down more than 1,000 small businesses across the U.S.? But that’s EXACTLY what’s happening. Tucked into a corner of the Senate’s highway bill is a provision to “reclassify” small tobacco retail shops as “tobacco manufacturing facilities” if that shop happens to have a place where you can roll your own smokes. In the eyes of U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), Rep. Diane Black (R-Tennessee) and others: Allow roll your own smokes = you ARE a manufacturer. Don’t allow roll your own smokes = you are NOT a manufacturer.

This is as ridiculous as it is wrong, and Congress knows it.

Why do we call this a Big Tobacco bailout? Because, according to the lobbyist disclosures filed with the U.S. House and Senate, Altria, R.J.Reynolds and other Big Tobacco interests spent more than $3 million dollars on an intense, 20-day lobbying effort for H.R.4134, Rep. Black’s version of the Big Tobacco bailout. THREE MILLION DOLLARS IN TWENTY DAYS! Why does Big Tobacco want H.R.4134 so badly? Because they’re greedy jackasses.

Big Tobacco’s mascot is a greedy jackass. No offense intended for the animals used in this production.

If the Big Tobacco bailout is allowed to become law, think about the impact on a small business. If you’re a run-of-the-mill retail establishment, you really don’t have a lot of Federal paperwork except for taxes and maybe some OSHA stuff. But think about all the new paperwork and regulations falling down on you like rain if you’re reclassified as a manufacturer. Are you in an area locally ZONED for manufacturing? Is your establishment in compliance with Federal regulations applied to manufacturers for worker safety and the environment? If you could even comply with the new regulations, could you afford the huge new taxes and permit fees associated with the manufacturing sector?

The answer is no. You wouldn’t be able to afford the new taxes and regulations, and everybody knows it. That’s why they wrote the Big Tobacco bailout provision the way they did. Big Tobacco wanted a provision that would SHUT DOWN their competition, once and for all. That’s forcible assault on free enterprise and that’s why we’re fighting it.

The usual suspects, including U.S. Rep Diane Black (R-Tennessee) who is sponsor of H.R.4134, the Big Tobacco bailout that will eliminate jobs at more than 1,000 small businesses across the United States.

Today’s Message: @LawmakerXYZ I’m not a manufacturer, I’m #smallbiz! STOP the #BigTobacco bailout HR4134 http://bit.ly/NewTax

OUR MISSION: Continue talking with all your members of Congress on Facebook, Twitter, online news story comment areas, town hall meetings, email, sign language, and shortwave radio. Lawmakers don’t often do slimy stuff when they know the public is watching, so alert them that we ARE watching and we KNOW what they’re up to! Keep up the pressure, don’t relent. Recruit, recruit, recruit! Fresh meat for our campaign is essential!

- GR

Fixed Contests

Today’s Message: @LawmakerXYZ HR4134 is a #BigTobacco bailout tax hike sneaked into the highway bill. Stop the sellout and save jobs! http://bit.ly/NewTax

Maybe Miss Pennsylvania was on to something when she said the contest was fixed? You know, like how some in Congress want to fix a Big Tobacco bailout…

The Donald says she’s kooky.

Okay, yesterday I was ticked off. U.S. House Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) went on FOX News Monday telling Bill Hemmer she was ALL against the U.S. government weighing down business with regulation. SIX TIMES she said she wanted government to get off the backs of the job creators here in our United States. But the truth is she supports legislation that will CRUSH more than 1,000 small businesses for the SOLE BENEFIT of the Big Tobacco companies. So I blew off some steam and maybe, MAYBE I was a little rough in calling her a “double agent.”

So last night, I was all set to offer Congresswoman Blackburn an opportunity to sit down in the backyard over some beers and talk this thing out, but then she tweeted this:

“The House just passed my amendment to put an end to the practice of the Federal government picking winners and losers. #DOE #Solyndra”

This. Means. War.

Not in OUR HOUSE Ms. Blackburn.

 

There is no more clear case of Congress trying to use the Federal government to pick “winners and losers” than H.R.4134, the Big Tobacco bailout.

H.R.4134 is a bill  introduced by U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn) and supported by U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn. Its provisions are also contained in the U.S. Senate’s version of the highway bill and our aim is to stop this bailout.

Here’s HOW the law will use the Federal government to pick winners and losers:

The official summary of H.R.4134: The bill “Amends the Internal Revenue Code to include within the definition of “manufacturer of tobacco products,” for excise tax purposes, any person who for commercial purposes makes available for consumer use a machine capable of producing tobacco products.”

The practical effect of this is it will FORBID small tobacco shops from offering customers the choice of rolling their own smokes. How? Reclassifying small retail shops as “manufacturers” subjects them to MOUNTAINS of new taxes and regulations, and zones them OUT of retail locations. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this will SHUT DOWN any small businesses that tries to continue operating under the new classification.

Loser picked = Small Business. Winner picked = Big Tobacco. 

Big Tobacco figures that if you and I can’t roll our own cigarettes, we’ll buy theirs. If we buy Big Tobacco’s crappy cigarettes, Johnny Executive gets a new private jet. Look, I’m all for people and companies making money and succeeding, but don’t do it by using Congress to write fair competition out of law. Big Tobacco shouldn’t be given a monopoly on smokes. And Congress should open their eyes to this sham and travesty of justice.

Johnny Big Tobacco looking down upon his subjects.

Here’s another funny thing. H.R.4134 will supposedly collect money from small retail establishments where you can roll your own smokes and put that “new money” toward deficit reduction. Only it won’t. Again, the Congressional Budget Office says NO revenues will be collected for deficit reduction because the small retail shops will have been put out of business by the Federal government!

So I ask you: Should we make peace with those trying to shut down our freedom to roll our own smokes? Should we go along to get along with those who SAY they’re against Federal regulations, but then heap new regulations on small business? Should we trust a congressperson who SAYS she doesn’t want the Federal government picking winners and losers, but then does that very thing by supporting H.R.4134?

Marsha Blackburn laughing at voters on her way to the bank with Big Tobacco campaign cash.

No, we shouldn’t, and no we won’t. U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn, shame on you. I realize you’ve taken at least $24,500 from Altria’s PAC for your congressional campaigns, but that doesn’t mean you have to do Big Tobacco’s bidding. And shame on your Baltimore-swinging colleague Rep. Diane Black for introducing the bill on behalf of Big Tobacco in the first place. This is NOT what Congress was meant to do and there is NOTHING more atrocious than a government picking winners and losers ESPECIALLY when the winner is Big Tobacco.

There it is, friends. Our mission today is to continue talking with the members who can make a difference.

CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE: As TaxTracker predicted, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer introduced her alternative highway bill yesterday. Well, she kind of introduced it by hosting a telephone conference call with “stakeholders” to tell them about it. She hasn’t released the text of the new bill publicly, yet. She did apparently give the new bill to the House highway bill negotiators and told them it was the Senate’s bipartisan offer. House members have yet to weigh in yet with what they think of the offer. My thought is they’ll reject it. We’ll ask our moles today what they know and report back.

FOCUS: Reach out and touch on Twitter and Facebook, and here are some folks we can effectively discuss our matter with today (Twitter handles):

• @JohnBoehner
• @RepPaulRyan
• @EricCantor
• @GOPLeader
• @GOPConference
• @SpeakerBoehner
• @GOPWhip
• @KevinOMcCarthy
• @RepHensarling
• @RepTomPrice
• @TeamTiberi
• @RepJasonAltmire
• @RepJimCooper
• @RepTimHolden
• @RepMikeMichaud

Introducing the iPhone 5! (Not really)

Rumor: Is this the next iPhone?

Today’s Message: @LawmakerXYZ and Rep Bill Shuster, you still haven’t killed the #BigTobacco Bailout. What R U waiting 4? http://bit.ly/NewTax

If Congress did to phone companies what they’re trying to do to tobacco’s roll your own industry, what you see above is what the iPhone 5 might look like.

It’s true! Stay with me:

It wasn’t long ago that Ma Bell controlled a monopoly. If you wanted to make a phone call, they were the ONLY game in town. Buy a phone that wasn’t Ma Bell’s; go to jail. Start your own phone company; go to prison. Ma Bell and their friends in Big Government made laws and regulations that ensured no one else was allowed to play. Eventually, people wised up and the courts broke up Ma Bell and its ridiculous regulatory scheme. Today, that means Bobbie Sue, Joe the Plumber, or even George Renome can invent, produce, and sell phones or network services to their heart’s content (within FCC regulations, of course). Heck, I know a bunch of people who don’t even use hard-wired phone services anymore because mobile phones have come so far! But if the courts hadn’t stepped in and Ma Bell had been allowed to be the only game in town, we’d still be stuck in the dark ages with rotary dials, party lines, crappy service, and high prices (Hey wait, we still have the last two… – LOL).

Still with me?

Big Tobacco is today’s Ma Bell. They’re the only game in town. You want a smoke? You have to buy Big Tobacco’s products. What if you want to blend and roll your own tobacco? Big Tobacco says NO WAY! And who does Big Tobacco have on their side? You guessed it. Fighting for Big Tobacco and against roll your own services are the same members of Congress who take HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars in campaign contributions from Big Tobacco each year.

Hello Congress. I’m Big Tobacco, and I come in peace.

SO… Big Tobacco has bought a few is working with members of Congress to foreclose your opportunity to roll your own smokes with dangerous legislation currently in the highway bill. The legion of lobbyists Big Tobacco pays millions of dollars to each year, is pushing H.R.4134 and the Senate-passed provision authored by Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) to hike taxes and regulations on any establishment that uses a manual cigarette rolling machine. They want to reclassify smoke shops as “tobacco manufacturing facilities” and use adjacent tax and regulation to CRUSH small operators out of the custom smoke business.

My children LOVE Cookie Monster

Even today, groups of people representing the American Wholesale Marketers Association are visiting their members of Congress on Capitol Hill, pining away about the virtues of the Big Tobacco bailout (H.R.4134) asking members to support it. WHY are Wholesalers teaming up with Big Tobacco? Because they’re the middleman between Big Tobacco’s mammoth manufacturing plants and retail outlets. Billions of smokes in billions of cartons are stored at wholesaler warehouses until they’re sold. Big Tobacco is holding an iron maiden over the Wholesalers Association’s head saying (use Cookie Monster voice), “You support HR4134. You ask Congress support, too. Me hungry for cookies.”

Okay, enough for now because I’m just getting worked up over Big Tobacco’s next event on Capitol Hill. Shield your children’s eyes from tomorrow’s blog post because I just learned some new information about one of the congressmen we thought was on our side (pay attention Ohio folks). Wow, I’m just getting pissed and tired of how many people Big Tobacco is trying to buy off.

- GR