Conor Lamb, Rep

=<div>ith the nation's attention rightly transfixed by the Senate GOP's monstrous efforts to ram through a Supreme Court nominee who has been credibly accused by multiple women of sexual assault, House Republicans on Friday voted overwhelmingly to approve another <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/house-republicans-pass-bill-to-extend-individual-tax-cuts/2018/09/28/2497d6bc-c326-11e8-97a5-ab1e46bb3bc7_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$3 trillion in tax cuts</a> for the wealthiest Americans just weeks before the November midterms."In less than a year, House Republicans have handed out trillions of tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. Now, middle class families are on the hook for higher healthcare costs, and Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block."
—Rep. Richard Neal"Today the GOP doubled down on last year's giveaway to the donor class known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act," Morris Pearl, chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/PatrioticMills/status/1045708540927709184" style="text-decoration-line: none;">statement</a> following the 220-191 vote. "Tax Cuts 2.0 gives nearly $3 trillion to the wealthiest Americans, and will become yet another excuse for Republicans to slash Medicare and Social Security."<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 20px;" />"In less than a year, House Republicans have handed out trillions of tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations," added Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee. "Now, middle class families are on the hook for higher healthcare costs, and Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block."<a href="https://twitter.com/ericawerner/status/1045716277808058369" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Three Democrats</a>—Reps. Conor Lamb (Penn.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.)—voted for the GOP-crafted measure, which would permanently extend the individual tax cuts under the current Republican tax law.According to the an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center (TPC), the House GOP's measure—which progressive critics have denounced as "Tax Scam 2.0"—would send the vast majority of benefits to the very top."The richest one percent of filers would see an average tax cut of $40,000, while those in the middle 20 percent of earners would see an average cut of $980," the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/house-republicans-pass-bill-to-extend-individual-tax-cuts/2018/09/28/2497d6bc-c326-11e8-97a5-ab1e46bb3bc7_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">noted</a> in a summary of TPC's findings. "The American people are already paying too high a price for the GOP's blatant disregard for our families and our economy," Ryan Thomas of the Not One Penny coalition said in a statement on Friday. "This is yet another shameful tax law that would swindle working families and siphon even more funding from the programs that help our communities thrive—all in order to give more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and wealthy corporations.""Today's vote is yet another call for us to end the culture of corruption endemic in the Republican Party," Thomas concluded. "The GOP believes they can continue to put the wants of the wealthiest people and corporations above the needs of the American people—but the American people are watching and we will hold them accountable."</div><div>
<div><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> leanings: Fiscally conservativeSpending target: Unknown<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161207101627/http://endingspendingfund.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Ending Spending Action Fund</a> was launched as a super PAC in <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/335/10030432335/10030432335.pdf#navpanes=0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">2010</a> along with its affiliated nonprofit, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160322081411/http://endingspending.com/about/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Ending Spending Inc.</a> Originally, the super PAC was called Taxpayers Against Earmarks, and it advocated against congressional earmarks. In 2011, the super PAC<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160322102906/https://endingspending.com/blog/2011/05/10/taxpayers-against-earmarks-is-now-ending-spending/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;"> changed its name </a>and expanded its focus to include the nation’s overall fiscal outlook. In 2015, it changed its name again — this time to <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/300/201507319000513300/201507319000513300.pdf#navpanes=0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">ESAFund</a>.<a href="https://esafund.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">ESAFund</a> describes itself as a nonpartisan super PAC that “supports political candidates who understand the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161206053707/http://esafund.com/about/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">importance of a balanced budget</a>.”The group was formed by its current chairman, <a href="https://endingspending.com/about/joe-ricketts/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Joe Ricketts</a>, who founded TD Ameritrade and whose family owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team.As a <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/superpacs.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">super PAC </a>registered with the <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00489856" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Federal Election Commission</a>, ESAFund is allowed to raise money of unlimited amounts but must disclose its donors. During the 2016 election cycle, five of the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00489856" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">six largest donors </a>were individuals. The exception was <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2014/02/congressional-leadership-fund/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Congressional Leadership Fund,</a> a Republican super PAC, which <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pac2pac.php?cmte=C00504530&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">contributed $1.6 million</a>. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib_all.php?cmte=C00489856&type=A&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Marlene Ricketts</a>, one of the <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Cubs-Owners-Also-Active-in-Politics-Though-Loyalties-Split-399022531.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Chicago Cubs</a> owners, was the super PAC’s largest donor in 2016. She contributed $6.75 million. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=4483897&privcapId=4483619" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Paul Singer</a>, founder and president of the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4483619" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Elliott Management </a>hedge fund, donated $1.95 million.During the 2016 election cycle, ESAFund spent about $14.9 million in <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C00489856&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">independent expenditures</a>. About $6 million was spent on advertising that expressly supported Republican candidates, and $3.6 million was spent to oppose Republicans. The group did not use any funds to support Democrats, and it spent $5 million on ads against Democratic candidates. Other than the $800,000 spent opposing Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, all of the PAC’s independent expenditures were spent on congressional races.Although ESAFund was not very active in the 2016 presidential campaign, the Ricketts family <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib_all.php?cmte=C00603621&type=A&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">donated millions</a> to the anti-Trump <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2016/03/our-principles-pac/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Our Principles PAC</a>. At the time, Trump <a href="http://www.omaha.com/news/politics/donald-trump-tweet-targets-ricketts-family-after-super-pac-disclosure/article_de5ce568-d983-11e5-9118-d75f7694e4a1.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">criticized</a>the Ricketts in a tweet: “I hear the Rickets family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $’s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!”For the 2018 election cycle, ESAFund had spent just $53,000 in <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C00489856&cycle=2018" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">independent expenditures</a> as of April 2018. All of it went to support Karen Handel in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/georgia-congressional-runoff-ossoff-handel" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Georgia special House election,</a>which <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/republican-handel-wins-georgia-race-thanks-donald-trump" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">she won</a> in June 2017. The <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib_all.php?cmte=C00489856&type=A&cycle=2018" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">largest donation,</a> so far, came from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=615406&privcapId=24248695" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">William Oberndorf</a>, who donated $100,000. As of April 2018, the Ricketts had not made any contributions to the super PAC for this campaign cycle.The super PAC’s affiliated nonprofit, Ending Spending Inc., is <a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/06/21/9166/nonprofit-profile-ending-spending" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">not required to disclose its donors</a>. During the 2016 election cycle, Ending Spending Inc. spent $2.6 million on <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C90014697&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">independent expenditures</a>. Like ESAFund, the nonprofit made no expenditures in support of Democrats. Ending Spending Inc. spent $1.2 million to support Republicans, $1.1 million to oppose Republicans, and $300,000 to oppose Democratic candidates. The group did not target any presidential candidates; all expenditures went toward congressional candidates.For the 2018 election cycle, Ending Spending Inc. had spent <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C90014697&cycle=2018" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;">$1.8 million</a> in independent expenditures, as of April 2018, on two special House elections. About <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C90014697&cycle=2018" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;">$1.3 million</a> of that went to help elect Handel in Georgia. The group also contributed about $500,000 to Pennsylvania House candidate Rick Saccone, who <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/democrat-conor-lamb-wins-pennsylvania-special-election-1186137155570" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;">narrowly lost</a> to Conor Lamb in March.<div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.factcheck.org/2018/04/esafund-ending-spending-inc/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><footer class="entry-footer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="term-listing-footer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 3rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="categories" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0.25rem 0.25rem; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; font-weight: 600; position: relative;">Categories<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.25rem; padding: 0px; list-style: none; display: inline-block;"><li class="cat-item cat-item-4835" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0.25rem 0.25rem; padding: 0.125rem 0.25rem; font-weight: 500; position: relative; list-style: none; display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(244, 244, 244);"><a href="https://www.factcheck.org/players-guide/2018/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Players Guide 2018</a></li></ul></li><li class="post_tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0.25rem 0.25rem; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; font-weight: 600; position: relative;">Tags<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.25rem; padding: 0px; list-style: none; display: inline-block;"><li class="cat-item cat-item-1932" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0.25rem 0.25rem; padding: 0.125rem 0.25rem; font-weight: 500; position: relative; list-style: none; display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(244, 244, 244);"><a href="https://www.factcheck.org/tag/ending-spending/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Ending Spending</a></li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-2508" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0.25rem 0.25rem; padding: 0.125rem 0.25rem; font-weight: 500; position: relative; list-style: none; display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(244, 244, 244);"><a href="https://www.factcheck.org/tag/ending-spending-action-fund/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Ending Spending Action Fund</a></li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-4942" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0.25rem 0.25rem; padding: 0.125rem 0.25rem; font-weight: 500; position: relative; list-style: none; display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(244, 244, 244);"><a href="https://www.factcheck.org/tag/esafund/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">ESAFund</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></footer></div><div style="">=</div><div style="">Democrat Conor Lamb won a special election in a heavy Trump district in southwestern Pennsylvania, and conservatives tried desperately to spin it. Fox & Friends <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fvideo%2F2018%2F03%2F14%2Ffox-friends-host-democrat-conor-lamb-likely-winner-pa-special-election-exception%2F219629&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=318weeklya&n=16" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">claimed</a> that Lamb ran as a Republican (Trump himself later <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fpolitics%2Farchive%2F2018%2F03%2Ftrump-on-the-lamb%2F555668%2F&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=318weeklya&n=17" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">echoed</a> this). In reality, Lamb is pro-union, pro-stabilizing Obamacare, pro-legal abortion, and opposed to Trump’s tax cuts for the rich. </div><div style="">
</div><div style="">Sinclair's Boris Epshteyn <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F03%2F14%2Fsinclairs-boris-epshteyn-pro-trump-republican-struggling-pennsylvania-actually-good-news-trump%2F219635&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=318weeklya&n=18" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">argued</a> that Republicans losing was actually good news for Trump because Lamb didn't win by even more, ignoring that Trump won the district by 20 points in 2016. It's just not those two either, Trump surrogates everywhere lied about the district. When you see a Trump surrogate lie on TV, that's not a bug, that's the feature. As Matt Gertz points out, Trump surrogates <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F03%2F15%2Fhack-gap-and-conor-lamb-s-victory%2F219650&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=318weeklya&n=19" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">use</a> false talking points to shift the debate in their favor.</div><div style="">=</div></div></div></div>