cuellar, H Rep

corp dems, see sellout tag

Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX) is the wrong-way kid. His score from the LCV has plunged from 100 to 29 percent in a mere five years. What’s changed his mind to the point where he’s boasting about his vote to block the EPA from addressing carbon pollution? Could it be the steadily increasing amount of donations he’s gotten from Big Oil?

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trump po bc not convert to gop post pardon?

Expert analysis predicts Trump pardon backfire in Texas

President Donald Trump was furious after Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was pardoned but didn't switch parties to be a Republican. Now "The Cook Political Report" is predicting that the congressional seat will likely stay in his control.

Cuellar was set to face bribery charges until Trump stepped in. Despite the pardon, however, Cuellar remains with his own party.

“Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like,” the president ranted in a lengthy Truth Social post Sunday. “Oh, well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”

"President Donald Trump has gone to extreme lengths to shore up Republicans’ tenuous hold on the House — going as far as pressuring state legislators to redraw their congressional maps to net their party a single seat," wrote Cook's Erin Covey.

Trump had demanded red states do mid-decade redistricting in an effort to redraw congressional district lines to eliminate Democratic seats and hold onto power. However, his efforts with Cuellar didn't pan out.

Trump even went so far as to accuse President Joe Biden administration of targeting Cuellar for “speaking the truth” about border security with the Justice Department probe.

Covey noted that last week there was speculation that Trump cut a deal with Cuellar and that he would switch parties for the pardon or retire altogether.

Now, "The Cook Political Reporter" has moved the seat from a toss-up to "likely Democrat."

Read the full report here.

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texas primary: Climate hawk Casar wins big, Cisneros forces runoff with PetroDem Cuellar

Published on March 2nd, 2022 | by Jake Johnson

Former Austin City Council member Greg Casar handily won the Democratic primary for an open seat in Texas’ 35th Congressional District on Tuesday while progressive immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros forced Rep. Henry Cuellar—a corporate-funded Democrat under FBI investigation—into a runoff contest in the state’s 28th district. By Jake Johnson Common Dreams Casar, a democratic socialist endorsed by Rep. Alexandria […]

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Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX) is the wrong-way kid. His score from the LCV has plunged from 100 to 29 percent in a mere five years. What’s changed his mind to the point where he’s boasting about his vote to block the EPA from addressing carbon pollution? Could it be the steadily increasing amount of donations he’s gotten from Big Oil?

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strays

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an 1021

new analysis out Friday makes clear the wide gap between corporations' stated commitments to fighting the climate crisis and the lengths they are currently going to in order to stop the passage of the biggest climate action spending package in U.S. history.

The research by the progressive advocacy group Accountable.US examined statements and pledges made in recent years by companies including American Airlines, Amazon, Apple, and Google regarding the corporations' plans to end carbon emissions, shift to fleets of electric vehicles, and take other steps to help combat the climate emergency.

Those stated commitments mean little, Accountable.US said, considering the companies' close ties with lobbying firms that are actively working to kill the Build Back Better Act, the spending package which would invest $3.5 trillion over 10 years to transition towards renewable energy and bolster the wellbeing of working Americans.

"Major corporations love to tell us how committed they are to addressing the climate crisis and building a sustainable future, but behind closed doors, they are funding the very industry trade groups that are fighting tooth and nail to stop the biggest climate change bill ever," Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, told The Guardian.

Microsoft,for example, said last year it would be carbon negative by 2030, emphasizing that "the scientific consensus is clear" about the human-caused climate emergency and the danger planet-heating carbon emissions pose to humanity.

The company also unveiled a plan to establish a $1 billion climate innovation fund "to accelerate the global development of carbon reduction, capture, and removal technologies."

The analysis by Accountable.US showed that despiteMicrosoft's claimed commitment to climate action, some of the company's executives are among the board members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—the largest lobbying group in the United States—which has made no secret of its goal of tanking the Build Back Better plan, which progressives hope to pass through the filibuster-proof reconciliation process.

The Chamber said in August that it was prepared to "do everything we can to prevent this tax raising, job-killing reconciliation bill from becoming law."

On social media, Accountable.US pointed to other examples of large corporations whose stated concerns over the climate emergency are inconsistent with their involvement with powerful lobbying groups.

The group responded to a tweet fromAmerican Airlineson helping to "accelerate the technologies needed to reach net zero emissions" by pointing out that the aviation company is opposed to the reconciliation bill, which would invest in electric vehicle infrastructure, create millions of good-paying clean energy jobs, and reduce emissions from transportation, among other measures[twt]

executives at retail giant Walmartare among the board members of the Business Roundtable, which is also fighting the passage of the spending bill, saying it is "deeply concerned" about the tax increases progressives have called for to fund anti-poverty measures as well as climate action.

On Twitter, Accountable.US scoffed at a recent call for "strong climate policy" by the company's chief sustainability officer.

"Let's be clear: Walmart, one of the biggest companies in America, says they support the climate initiatives in the Build Back Better Plan," said the watchdog. "But the company is actively fighting its passage."

The Business Roundtable's members also include executives at Alphabet—Google's parent company—and Amazon. The latter company has pledged to cut its own emissions to net zero by 2040 while Google was lauded last year for announcing what The Verge called "one of Big Tech's most ambitious environmental commitments... to run its operations purely on carbon-free energy by 2030."

Some of the lobbying firms fighting against the spending plan are bombarding the airwaves with ad campaigns attacking the legislation, claiming its provisions will hurt working families.

In a memo published Thursday, Accountable.US noted that right-wing corporate Democrats including Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) "banked over $150,000 in campaign donations from corporate interests—including those that are helping lead business groups opposing the bill."

"Corporate interests will say or do anything to preserve the broken status quo, including lie to families that overdue investments in child care, education, and climate change are somehow not in their interest," wrote Herrig in the memo. "Democrats in Congress are the last people who should be saying and doing it for them."

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secret sci BS

==https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1430/cosponsors

28:1

cuellar

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stray on epa 3/15

The word “science” is having an existential crisis in Washington.

Two bills passed by the House last week that would redefine how the EPA considers science, and what science it can consider, have attracted huge interest from big EPA-regulated industries that have shown a preference for contributing to GOP campaigns — and to the handful of Democrats who voted with the Republicans.

The legislation puts big money industries and scientists on opposite sides of the ring. The big agriculture, oil, utility and other corporations say they want transparency and independent thinking in the EPA, while scientists say just the opposite will result if the measures are made law.

“House leaders and their allies in industry don’t like the answers science is giving,” said Andrew Rosenberg, the director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a statement. “The titles and text of these bills are cleverly designed to conceal their purpose, which is to protect industry from any oversight and any limits on their ability to pollute.”

One bill would affect the membership and operation of EPA’s Science Advisory Board. The board exists to give the agency scientific advice on potential regulations. Supporters of thebill, who argue that EPA has a habit of twisting science around for whatever purpose it sees fit, say the changes will make the board more well-rounded and more transparent. Opponents, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, criticize the bill for permitting employees of the industries being regulated to be on the board; for requiring extensive public hearings that they say would create an undue burden on the process (though EPA is already required to do that separately); and for barring some of the most knowledgeable scientists from evaluating issues if their own work is involved.

The other, the Secret Science Reform Act would keep EPA from writing regulations based upon science that isn’t made available to the public. Supporters want the process to be more inclusive and open. Opponents say that it’s more complicated: Sometimes supporting science is based on sensitive information that can’t be made public, for example, and some scientific information is copyrighted and can’t be widely disseminated easily and at no cost.

As OpenSecrets Blog reported last year when the advisory board bill passed the House in the last Congress, heavyweight industries — including  oil and gas,chemical companies, andbig ag — flexed their D.C. muscles in support of that bill. A near-party line vote sent the legislation along to the Senate, and there were clear links between the handful of Democrats that strayed over and voted with House Republicans on the bill and those interest groups.

Just one of the Democrats that strayed from the party four months ago returned to serve in the 114th Congress. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), now the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, receives a lot of cash from major players in agriculture. In the 2014 cycle, he took in $344,150 from the crop production industry and $160,250 from agricultural services and products. His top two donors were two big agriculture companies: Monsanto and American Crystal Sugar, which each gave $22,250 (Monsanto lobbyists pitched in another $4,000).

One other Democrat joined Peterson and Republicans this year on that bill, freshman Rep. Brad Ashford of Nebraska. Ashford’s top industries don’t pop out as ones that would be interested in the advisory board bill (and, in fact, his enthusiasm for fundraising appears low), but his personal finances tell a different story. His largest asset by far in 2013, the most recent year for which information is available, was a stake in oil and gas producer Apache Corp. totaling between $1.1 million and $5.2 million (lawmakers are required to list their holdings only in ranges on personal financial disclosure forms).

Interest in the ‘secret science’ bill last year came mostly from a similar set of industries — plus electric utilities, according to lobbying reports; the utilities also favor the GOP with their contributions, although not so lopsidedly as oil and gas does.

Four Democrats jumped ship on the ‘secret science’ bill this year to vote with Republicans, including Ashford and Peterson. The other two, Reps. Henry Cuellar(D-Texas) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.), both had strong support from the industries that lobbied on the science bills as well.

Cuellar received $127,200 from the oil and gas industry last cycle, making it his top industry overall. Crop production made a showing as well (No. 6 with $45,850), as did electric utilities (No. 11, giving $26,800). Conoco Phillips was his fifth biggest donor ($10,750, and lobbyists for the company gave another $500), and American Crystal Sugar was No. 6 ($10,000).

Costa also got a lot of love from agriculture (his No. 1 at $228,950), oil and gas (No. 2 giving $101,999 — despite being an industry that doesn’t exist in his district at all), and electric utilities (No. 10 at $35,500). American Crystal Sugar was his fourth most generous donor ($20,000), and Exxon was his seventh ($15,000).

The latest go-round is a case of deja vu all over again in Congress, as both bills passed the House last year and were sent to the Senate, where they died when the Democrats were in the majority. The outcome could be different this year, though Republicans are still a handful of votes shy of the 60 they’d need for cloture. Even then, it might not matter: The Obama Administration promptly issued veto threats as the bills headed to the Senate.

Tags: agriculture, American Crystal Sugar, andrew rosenberg, Apache Corp., big ag, Brad Ashford, chemical industry, clark mindock, conoco phillips, cuellar, epa, Henry Cuellar, Jim Costa, oil and gas, science, science advisory board, secret science, Union of Concerned Scientists, utilities

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http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Henry_Cuellar

Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, has represented the Twenty-Eighth Congressional District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2004. (map)

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 Record and controversies
  • 1.1 Iraq War
  • 1.2 Environmental record
  • 1.3 Cozy with the GOP

• 2 Bio
  • 2.1 Congressional career
    • 2.1.1 2006 elections

• 3 Money in politics
• 4 Committees and Affiliations
  • 4.1 Committees
    • 4.1.1 Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

• 5 More Background Data
• 6 Contact
• 7 Articles and resources
  • 7.1 Resources
  • 7.2 Articles
    • 7.2.1 Local blogs and discussion sites

Record and controversies

General information about important bills and votes for can be found in Congresspedia's articles on legislation. You can add information you find on how Henry Cuellar voted by clicking the "[edit]" link to the right and typing it in. Remember to cite your sources!

Iraq War

For more information see the chart of U.S. House of Representatives votes on the Iraq War.

Environmental record

For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Cozy with the GOP

Cuellar endorsed George W. Bush in 2000, and according to MSNBC, "Cuellar made some Democrats furious when a photo was published showing President Bush grabbing Cuellar's cheeks at the [2006] State of the Union. After liberal blogs posted the photo, [Cuellar's 2006 primary opponent Ciro] Rodriguez's campaign has raked in the cash, more than $70,000 from online donors, according to ActBlue, a Democratic online clearinghouse." [1]

In 2002 "Cuellar ran against Republican congressman Henry Bonilla. During that race, he received significant help from [Ciro] Rodriguez, then the congressman from San Antonio, who wanted to see the Democrats pick up Bonilla's seat. But after Cuellar narrowly lost, and after Texas Republicans -- in their controversial redistricting plan a year later -- reconfigured Rodriguez's district to include Cuellar's hometown of Laredo, Texas, Cuellar did what some thought was an act of betrayal: He challenged Rodriguez for his seat in the 2004 primary, and won. (Cuellar went on to defeat his Republican opponent in the general election, 59-39 percent.) That left a bad taste in the mouths of some Democrats in Texas and Washington, which only intensified after Cuellar arrived on Capitol Hill, and was seen as being a little too cozy with the GOP" [2]

Bio

Cuellar was born September 19, 1955, in Laredo, Texas. He is a graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and holds a Juris Doctor and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Texas.[3] Before becoming involved in politics, Cuellar was a lawyer and owned a private trade firm.

Prior to being elected to Congress, Cuellar was a lawmaker in the Texas House from 1987-2001, and was Texas Secretary of State in 2001.[4]

In 2002, Cuellar gave Republican 23rd District Representative Henry Bonilla his closest contest ever, losing by only two percentage points. He was planning to challenge Bonilla again in 2004, but redistricting engineered by Tom DeLayshifted most of Laredo from the 23rd to the more reliably Democratic 28th district. In a hotly contested primary, Cuellar defeated incumbent Democrat Ciro Rodriguez (See Controversy below). The district was so heavily Democratic that his victory in November was a foregone conclusion.

Congressional career

Cuellar describes himself as a "moderate conservative" and has signaled an interest in joining the Blue Dog Coalition.

2006 elections

No major candidates announced their intentions to contest Cuellar’s seat in the November 2006 election. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) [5]

Money in politics

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. cid=N00024978&cycle=2006

• Revolving door profile for Henry Cuellar from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.
• 2006 privately funded travel profile for Henry Cuellar from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.
• Personal finance profile for Henry Cuellar from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website.

Committees and Affiliations

Committees

• House Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Conservation Credit Rural Development and Research
  • Subcommittee on Specialty Crops and Foreign Agriculture Programs

• House Committee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism
  • Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response

• House Committee on Small Business
  • Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

• House Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Conservation Credit Rural Development and Research
  • Subcommittee on Specialty Crops and Foreign Agriculture Programs
  • Subcommittee on Department Operations Oversight Dairy Nutrition and Forestry

• House Committee on Budget

More Background Data

• Background information on Henry Cuellar from Project Vote Smart

• Interest group scorecard ratings for Henry Cuellar from Project Vote Smart

• Voting record for Henry Cuellar from the Washington Post database

• Information on Henry Cuellar from Congress Merge

Wikipedia also has an article on Henry Cuellar. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/12/1356723/-These-Democrats-voted-to-weaken-Wall-Street-reform-and-build-the-Keystone-nbsp-pipeline

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http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00024978&type=C

FIRST ELECTED:2004

Leadership PAC (1):

Texas First PAC

Career Fundraising

2001 - 2014 Total Receipts: $10,127,031

2001 - 2014 Total Spent: $8,302,305

Debts: $0

Last Report: Monday, November 24, 2014

Top 5 Contributors, 2001 - 2014

Contributor Total Indivs PACs

Club for Growth $114,019 $109,303 $4,716

International Bank of Commerce $104,350 $54,450 $49,900

USAA $72,500 $15,500 $57,000

AT&T Inc $69,300 $12,800 $56,500

Laredo Medical Group $68,177 $68,177 $0

...view more data

Top 5 Industries, 2001 - 2014

Industry Total Indivs PACs

Lawyers/Law Firms $610,255 $515,030 $95,225

Health Professionals $572,944 $378,046 $194,898

Oil & Gas $397,275 $114,275 $283,000

Commercial Banks $288,330 $149,430 $138,90

0

Real Estate $249,401 $192,401 $57,000

...view more data

Source of Funds

legend Individual Contributions $5,602,242 (55%)

legend PAC Contributions $3,929,770 (39%)

legend Candidate self-financing $130,986 (1%)

legend Other $464,032 (5%

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