CASE consumer action for strong econ

=<div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/11/big-pharma-bankrolled-conservative-groups-tax-returns-show">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/11/big-pharma-bankrolled-conservative-groups-tax-returns-show</a></div><div>
</div><div>big Pharma bankrolled conservative groups that pushed industry message to Trump, tax returns show</div>
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the pharmaceutical industry’s largest trade association, gave millions of dollars in grants to a number of conservative groups that pushed industry-friendly policies to the Trump administration and congressional lawmakers, new tax returns reveal.  <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://opensecrets.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=aa7cf182bf7041258bb250f9d&id=cd05139d66&e=44dfb36771" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Read More</a><div>
</div><div>pharmaceutical industry’s largest trade association gave millions of dollars in grants to a number of conservative groups that pushed industry-friendly policies to the Trump administration and congressional lawmakers, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6550468-PhrMA-2018-990.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">new tax returns</a> obtained by OpenSecrets reveal.The influential <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000504" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America</a>, which represents the most powerful drug companies in the country, is already one of the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/top-spenders" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">top lobbying spenders</a>. But the group also extends its reach to influential conservative groups that are aligned with drugmakers against controls on drug prices. Among its top recipients was the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000060058" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">American Action Network</a>, which received $2.5 million last year. The conservative “dark money” group, which took in $10 million from PhRMA since 2016, has consistently advocated policies favored by drugmakers. In August, the American Action Network announced a <a href="https://americanactionnetwork.org/press/aan-launches-2-5-million-campaign-opposing-socialist-price-controls-in-medicare-part-d/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$2.5 million ad campaign</a> to fight “socialist” price controls in Medicare Part D, a proposal strongly opposed by the pharmaceutical industry. In June, the group announced a <a href="https://americanactionnetwork.org/press/aan-launches-3-million-campaign-to-support-trump-admins-proposed-prescription-drug-rebate-rule/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$3 million ad campaign</a> to support President <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/candidate?id=N00023864" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a>’s proposed drug rebate rule that <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/trump-kills-drug-rebate-safe-harbor-rule-that-favored-pharma" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">favored pharmaceutical companies</a> over insurers and pharmacy benefit managers. The Trump administration pulled the proposal in July. Among other conservative groups PhRMA gave to last year are Consumer Action for a Strong Economy ($170,000), FreedomWorks ($100,000), Taxpayers Protection Alliance ($65,000), Institute for Policy Innovation ($35,000) and the Competitive Enterprise Institute ($25,000). Each of those groups signed on to a <a href="https://www.protectmypartb.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2018/11/11-28-18-Conservative-Coalition-Letter-Opposed-to-HHS-Part-B-IPI-rule-2.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">November 2018 letter</a> opposing the Trump administration’s proposed rule to create price controls for drugs administered under Medicare Part B. Numerous conservative groups that received funding from the pharmaceutical industry ran ads urging Trump not to embrace “socialist” price controls. FreedomWorks has <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=all&country=US&impression_search_field=has_impressions_lifetime&view_all_page_id=1125762814279092" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">run digital ads</a> urging the rejection of “the socialist rate-setting scheme” and is <a href="https://www.freedomworks.org/content/last-minute-alterations-jeopardize-usmca-balance" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">fighting</a> for <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/18/phrma-usmca-trump-050299" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">PhRMA-favored provisions</a> in Trump’s proposed trade deal. The conservative Heritage Action for America, which received $37,500 from PhRMA last year, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=all&country=US&impression_search_field=has_impressions_lifetime&view_all_page_id=116546288359245" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ran ads</a> urging members of Congress to reject the price control measure, also adopting the “socialist” branding. The Coalition for Affordable Health Coverage, which received $725,000 from PhRMA between 2017 and 2018, <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2019/07/29/conservative-campaign-against-drug-prices/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">took part in a July meeting</a> with White House officials to push back on drug price controls. PhRMA has consistently lobbied against price controls on drugs, a proposal that would deal serious damage to major drugmakers’ profits. The Trump administration insists it <a href="https://www.axios.com/drug-prices-race-to-bottom-99f84cdd-07cd-4341-ae25-48d204d02313.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">wants to lower drug prices</a>, but its plans face strong opposition from conservative groups and Republican allies in Congress. During a July Senate Finance Committee hearing on drug pricing bills, all but one Republican <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/07/senate-finance-big-pharma-mad/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">voted for an amendment</a> that would prohibit the Trump administration from implementing one of its key goals, an international price index to set drug costs. Sen. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00030245" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Bill Cassidy</a> (R-La.), once a supporter of a similar price control model, voted for the amendment and <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2019/07/29/conservative-campaign-against-drug-prices/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">told reporters</a> the pharmaceutical industry had “better ideas.”In a statement provided with the group’s tax returns, PhRMA spokeswoman Holly Campbell said the industry faced “a number of challenging issues with significant ramifications for the future of biopharmaceutical innovation” in 2018. 
 “PhRMA used its resources to advance practical policy solutions that will lower medicine costs for patients,” Campbell said, adding that the group “worked to oppose harmful proposals that threaten patient access to treatment and hinder the development of new medicines.”The trade group’s strategy of funding conservative forces isn’t new. In 2017, PhRMA <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/pharma-directed-millions-to-conservative-dark-money/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">gave millions</a> to conservative groups, including $2.5 million to pro-Trump “dark money” group America First Policies, OpenSecrets reported. The <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000023944" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">American Conservative Union</a>, which received $150,000 from PhRMA in 2017, has also come out against industry-opposed measures, <a href="https://www.conservative.org/article/the-high-cost-of-chasing-lower-drug-prices" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">urging lawmakers</a> not to adopt “socalist policies” that would cap the price of some drugs.These conservative groups are naturally aligned with the pharmaceutical industry on such issues. But PhRMA has also given to influential organizations that might not have the same incentives to back drugmakers.This summer, the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2019&id=F201993" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">National Sheriff’s Association</a>, which represents thousands of elected sheriffs, ran a <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/07/sheriffs-target-trump-w-ads-stop-prescription-drugs/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">six-figure television ad campaign</a> urging Trump to reject proposals opposed by the pharmaceutical industry, OpenSecrets reported. Specifically, the group tried to argue that allowing the importation of generic prescription drugs from Canada presented a safety risk.Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-10-23/big-pharma-helped-fund-sheriffs-ad-blitz-against-drug-imports" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">later revealed</a> that the cash-strapped trade group received at least $900,000 in grants from the Partnership for Safe Medicines, a nonprofit funded by PhRMA.PhRMA’s 2018 tax returns reveal that it gave more than $8.5 million to the Addiction Policy Forum and an affiliated group, organizations that aim to fight the opioid epidemic. The group announced last year it would accept funding from PhRMA, which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/business/opioids-addiction-pharma.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">drew controversy</a> from addiction advocates. The group gave nearly $14.5 million to the RX Abuse Leadership Initiative, which is <a href="https://catalyst.phrma.org/combatting-opioid-abuse-joint-partnership-with-the-rx-abuse-leadership-initiative-and-the-national-sheriffs-association" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">working with law enforcement</a> to fight the opioid epidemic. The group chipped in $175,000 to RetireSafe, a GOP-linked seniors group that <a href="http://www.retiresafe.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">opposes</a> House Democrats’ drug pricing package. In addition to giving to conservative groups, PhRMA gave more than $1.4 million to Center Forward and $50,000 to Third Way Foundation, organizations that push center-left policies, underscoring the drug industry’s widespread attempts to influence policy.PhRMA brought in a record $459 million in revenue last year, up slightly from its 2017 haul. Drugmakers are facing tremendous pressure from Washington lawmakers as they fight drug pricing proposals from congressional Democrats and the Trump administration. That’s while also pushing for an industry-friendly trade deal, handling the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/health/purdue-pharma-opioids-settlement.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ramifications of the opioid crisis</a>, combating <a href="https://nashp.org/rx-legislative-tracker-2019/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">state-level efforts</a> to reduce drug prices and preparing for Democratic presidential candidates’ <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2019/11/11/democrats-drug-pricing-report/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">proposals</a> to take on the pharmaceutical industry.
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</div><div>=</div></div>net neutral
srch only 1:<div class="gsc-thumbnail-inside" style="padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; position: static;"><div class="gs-title" style="position: static; height: 1.2em; overflow: hidden; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a class="gs-title" href="https://www.consumer-action.org/news/articles/pbms_are_pocketing_patient_money_and_increasing_costs_for_consumers" target="blank" dir="ltr" data-cturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.consumer-action.org/news/articles/pbms_are_pocketing_patient_money_and_increasing_costs_for_consumers&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiG2ofu-e_cAhXizVkKHZ1CCGcQFggFMAA&client=internal-uds-cse&cx=009750373858372178737:64ch4a1hgdq&usg=AOvVaw18EA8epqdERYeyXj1Kg7ha" data-ctorig="https://www.consumer-action.org/news/articles/pbms_are_pocketing_patient_money_and_increasing_costs_for_consumers" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(70, 100, 50); cursor: pointer; height: 1.2em; overflow: hidden;">Consumer Action - Pbms Are Pocketing Patient Money And ...</a></div></div><div class="gsc-url-top" style="padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; position: static;"><div class="gs-bidi-start-align gs-visibleUrl gs-visibleUrl-long" dir="ltr" style="position: static; padding-bottom: 2px; overflow: hidden; word-break: break-all;">https://www.consumer-action.org/.../pbms_are_pocketing_patient_money_ and_increasing_costs_for_consumers</div></div><table class="gsc-table-result" style="border-spacing: 0px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 8px; width: 632px;"><tbody><tr><td class="gsc-table-cell-snippet-close" style="word-wrap: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; vertical-align: top; width: 632px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;"><div style="position: static;"><div class="gs-bidi-start-align gs-snippet" dir="ltr" style="margin-top: 1px; position: static;">Apr 5, 2018 ... Source: Matthew Kandrach, CASE (The Hill). Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs ) — health insurance middle-men wedged between plan ...</div><div class="gs-bidi-start-align gs-snippet" dir="ltr" style="margin-top: 1px; position: static;">
</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>1170 Market Street, Suite 500  San Francisco, CA 94102  tel. (415) 777-9635
<h2 style="padding-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 2px; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight: 200; font-stretch: condensed; line-height: 1.25em; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(153, 204, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Corporate donors 2008-2009</h2><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding-top: 4px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: ultra-condensed; line-height: 1.3em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 204, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Inner Circle</h3>Assurant Health Foundation
Capital One
Microsoft
PG&E
TracFone
Union Bank of California
Washington Mutual<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding-top: 4px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: ultra-condensed; line-height: 1.3em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 204, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Benefactors</h3>American Express
AT&T
Copy Copies, Inc.
The Hastings Group
Humana
Southern California Edison
Verizon<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding-top: 4px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: ultra-condensed; line-height: 1.3em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(153, 204, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Friends</h3><p class="cf-tweet-this cf-tt-target cf-tt-enabled cf-tt-abutted cf-tt-abutted-top cf-tt-out-of-bounds cf-tt-out-of-bounds-bottom cf-tt-element-attached-bottom cf-tt-element-attached-center cf-tt-target-attached-top cf-tt-target-attached-center" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Certified Automotive Parts Association
CUNA Mutual Group
Direct Marketing Association
Southern California Gas Co.
The Sturdevant Law Firm
Visa Inc.<p class="cf-tweet-this cf-tt-target cf-tt-enabled cf-tt-abutted cf-tt-abutted-top cf-tt-out-of-bounds cf-tt-out-of-bounds-bottom cf-tt-element-attached-bottom cf-tt-element-attached-center cf-tt-target-attached-top cf-tt-target-attached-center" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">sez update 2013=CASEhttp://caseforconsumers.org/
2221 S. Clark Street, Arlington, VA 22202
off bsCASE is Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, the nation's foremost non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to the singular cause of promoting consumer interests through the advancement of free-market principles.Find out more information about the issues that we address
Our Mission.CASE is committed to serving as the voice of American consumers and wage-earners by advocating strongly for free-markets, fiscal responsibility and reasonable consumer protections. Through these time-tested principles, CASE aims to create more prosperity and opportunity for every American.CASE is further working to fill the void of consumer advocacy organizations who largely ignore free-market solutions and lean heavily toward more government regulation and control over our national, state and local economies.  As an aggressive and vocal advocate for less government interference with American enterprise and industry, CASE seeks to serve the interests of U.S. consumers through common-sense policies that allow our economy to innovate and expand, giving consumers more freedom, greater choice, more purchasing options, at less cost. 
What We Do.CASE advocates on the behalf of consumers, both on the state level and federal level. We analyze economic trends, research public policy, and weigh demographic information in order to best promote the free-market policies that lead to a stronger economy benefiting all consumers. CASE’s major initiatives also include engaging and educating the public both online and through traditional media, and aggressively informing lawmakers and opinion leaders of vital pro-consumer policies. CASE further provides several forums, with more to come, for consumers to share and exchange ideas.Consumers profit when American business and industry is free to compete and innovate in the marketplace to serve the needs of our diverse nation. To further an agenda of economic strength for our nation, and for prosperity and opportunity for every American, we will diligently and tirelessly make the CASE for more economic freedom, less government, and empowering consumers at every avenue.<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/04/10/koch-nichols-scott-pruitt-strip-california-waiver-regulate-auto-emissions" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/04/10/koch-nichols-scott-pruitt-strip-california-waiver-regulate-auto-emissions</a>...In the weeks leading up to his announcement about the emissions standards, Pruitt had taken a more antagonistic tone towards California, signaling that he might attempt to revoke the waiver that was <a href="https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/california-greenhouse-gas-waiver-request" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">granted by the Obama administration, per legal mandate, in 2009</a>.<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="min-height: 280px;"><div class="field-items" style=""><div class="field-item even" style="">“California is not the arbiter of these issues,” Pruitt told Bloomberg News in March, adding that the state “shouldn’t and can’t dictate to the rest of the country what these levels are going to be.”With the waiver in hand, California can continue to enforce current greenhouse gas emissions standards, despite whatever the EPA sets as the new national standards for model years 2022-2025. On top of that, any other state can choose to adopt California’s standards, which 13 other states and the District of Columbia currently have.Because these states represent roughly one-third of the country’s personal vehicle market, automakers would have to decide whether to set up two different production lines for states following the California standards and the rest of the country, or whether to treat California’s targets as a de facto national standard.Predictably, the automakers, through the powerful Auto Alliance and Global Automakers trade groups, are calling for one national regime, which could result from a grand bargain like the one that Pruitt just scrapped, or could be delivered by Pruitt stripping California of its waiver.Any attempt at such a repeal would be hugely controversial, and possibly illegal, due to many nuances in the Clean Air Act and the history of its application and enforcement. A waiver granted to California under the Clean Air Act has never been revoked, and has only been denied once.Notably, that lone denial came in December 2007 when William (Bill) Wehrum, who ran the EPA’s clean air division at the time, <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/27/nation/na-waiver27" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">convinced then-EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to reject the state’s request</a> to set its own greenhouse gas standards for vehicles, the very issue at hand today.(California was later granted that same waiver in 2009 under the Obama administration, after the state sued the EPA, and after the Supreme Court had held in 2007 that <a href="http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2017/04/02/the-tenth-anniversary-of-massachusetts-v-epa/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">the EPA was required to regulate greenhouse gas emissions</a>. For a much more comprehensive background on California’s waiver and Wehrum’s opposition, see <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/02/06/bill-wehrum-once-denied-california-right-cut-auto-emissions-and-could-do-it-again-epa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">this recent Desmog article</a>.)Today, Wehrum is again the air chief at the EPA, and is again in a position to attempt to strip California of its unique authority to set its own air pollution limits. As Wehrum, Pruitt, and EPA policymakers work to figure out the new national emissions standards for cars and light trucks, they are hearing from groups including the American Consumer Institute and its Koch-tied coalition on the importance of revoking the California waiver.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;">Who Are the Groups Fighting California’s Clean Air Act Waiver?</h3>The ACI letter to Pruitt, dated March 28, 2018, was signed by representatives from 11 groups, eight of which have known ties to the Koch network, and all of which are routine commenters on conservative issues.The <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Consumer_Institute" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">American Consumer Institute (ACI)</a> is credited with organizing the coalition, and the letter is signed by its President Steve Pociask. The group is best known for opposing <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/13-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-fccs-net-neutrality-regulation/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">net neutrality efforts</a> while being funded by a major internet service provider (ISP) lobby, as journalist <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8gdbw5/cables-companies-are-astroturfing-fake-consumer-support-to-end-net-neutrality" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Lee Fang detailed for VICE</a>. More recently, Pociask has turned his attention to attacking electric vehicles, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevepociask/2018/03/22/the-science-on-electric-vehicles-does-not-support-continuing-californias-waiver/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">writing on Forbes</a> that “the science on electric vehicles does not support continuing California’s waiver.”<a href="http://lessgovernment.org/#sthash.UrtaKSlM.dpbs" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Less Government </a>is an “organization dedicated to reducing the power of government and protecting the First Amendment from governmental assault,” which was founded and run by <a href="https://www.heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/seton-motley" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Seton Motley</a>, who is also listed as a Policy Adviser to the climate science-denying <a href="http://desmogblog.com/heartland-institute" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Heartland Institute</a>. Though Motley and his Less Government org have their roots in telecom and media issues, he has in recent years engaged more on climate and energy issues, <a href="http://www.energyandpolicy.org/americans-for-prosperity-anti-wind-letter-analysis/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">signing some anti-wind energy letters organized by the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity</a> and <a href="http://lessgovernment.org/why-are-republicans-resurrecting-failed-green-energy-subsidies/#sthash.9ki1QTaT.dpbs" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">writing a bit on electric vehicles</a>.The <a href="http://www.energyandpolicy.org/taxpayer-protection-alliance" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA)</a> is part of the <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/koch" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">network of front groups</a> funded by the Koch brothers and their donor network through the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/12/center-to-protect-patient-rights-ga/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Center to Protect Patient Rights</a> (now called <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Encore" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">American Encore</a>), and <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/behind-the-curtain-exclusive-the-koch-brothers-secret-bank-96669.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Freedom Partners</a>. As the Energy and Policy Institute has described, “TPA essentially exists as a shell for its advocacy, based on its own IRS form 990s: 'The Taxpayers Protection Alliance has given control of the management duties and the daily activities of the organization to MLM Consulting, LLC (MLM). MLM will be responsible for managing the organization and work to support the exempt purposes of TPA. The President of TPA, David Williams, is the sole owner of MLM Consulting LLC.'” Williams signed the ACIletter to Pruitt. TPA has fought clean energy policy in the past using the website SolarSecrets.org and has published white papers arguing against solar energy tax credits.<a href="http://caseforconsumers.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Consumer Action for a Strong Economy </a>is run by Matthew Kandrach, and has been <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/freedomworks#s46" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">linked to a number of coalition efforts stemming from the FreedomWorks</a> organization, which was born of a merger between the Koch-founded <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_for_a_Sound_Economy" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE)</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Empower_America" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Empower America</a>.<a href="https://www.americancommitment.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">American Commitment</a> is run by Phil Kerpen, a former Vice President of Americans for Prosperity. The organization was founded by <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sean_Noble" title="Sean Noble" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Sean Noble</a>, a right-wing operative with close ties to the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_brothers" title="Koch brothers" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Koch brothers</a> who also runs the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_to_Protect_Patient_Rights" title="Center to Protect Patient Rights" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Center to Protect Patient Rights</a> (American Encore), a major funnel for Koch donor network money to front groups.<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/freedomworks" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">FreedomWorks</a> was, as mentioned above, born of a merger between the Koch-founded <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_for_a_Sound_Economy" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE)</a>and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Empower_America" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Empower America</a>, though it has no known Koch ties at present day. The group was described in a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150821200015/http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/12/dick-armey-resigns-freedomworks-tea-party" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">2012 article in Mother Jones</a><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150821200015/http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/12/dick-armey-resigns-freedomworks-tea-party" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"> </a>as “one of the main political outfits of the conservative movement and an instrumental force within the tea party.” It pushes free market policies and has questioned the well-established science linking human activity to a warming planet.The <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/competitive-enterprise-institute" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)</a> is a conservative advocacy group <a href="https://cei.org/about-cei" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">dedicated</a> to “economic freedom” that has <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/competitive-enterprise-institute" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">received funding</a> from ExxonMobil, Texaco, and the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/koch-family-foundations" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">family foundations of the Koch brothers</a>.<a href="http://www.energyandpolicy.org/americans-for-tax-reform" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Americans for Tax Reform</a> (ATR) is an <a href="https://www.atr.org/about" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">anti-tax</a> group that has received funding from the oil and gas lobbying group, the <a href="http://conservativetransparency.org/org/americans-for-tax-reform-americans-for-tax-reform-foundation/?og_tot=127&order_by=contribution+DESC&adv=American+Petroleum+Institute&min=&max=&yr=&yr1=&yr2=&submit=#grants" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">American Petroleum Institute</a>, along with various groups in the Koch network such as the <a href="http://conservativetransparency.org/org/americans-for-tax-reform-americans-for-tax-reform-foundation/?og_tot=127&order_by=contribution+DESC&adv=claude&min=&max=&yr=&yr1=&yr2=&submit=#grants" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation</a> and the <a href="http://conservativetransparency.org/org/americans-for-tax-reform-americans-for-tax-reform-foundation/?og_tot=127&order_by=contribution+DESC&adv=Center+to+Protect+Patient+Rights&min=&max=&yr=&yr1=&yr2=&submit=#grants" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Center to Protect Patient Rights</a>, as well as <a href="http://conservativetransparency.org/org/americans-for-tax-reform-americans-for-tax-reform-foundation/?og_tot=127&order_by=contribution+DESC&adv=donors&min=&max=&yr=&yr1=&yr2=&submit=#grants" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">DonorsTrust</a>.The <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/60-plus-association" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">60 Plus Association</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151014182632/http://60plus.org/about/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">describes itself </a>as the conservative alternative to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and receives significant funding from groups connected to the Koch brothers. The group has also received funding from the American Petroleum Institute, and was created by Sean Noble (see American Commitment above). Noble was until recently a consultant for the Arizona Public Service utility company, and <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/07/08/how-arizona-corporation-commission-turned-anti-solar-just-few-years" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">has led efforts in Arizona to kill solar-friendly legislation</a>.<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/frontiers-freedom" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Frontiers of Freedom</a>, run by George Landrith, has received significant funding from Exxon, the Koch brothers, and dark money organizations like Donors Trust. In 2015, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/12/23/energy-equality-coalition-koch-attack-federal-electric-vehicle-tax-credit" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Landrith launched the Energy Equality Coalition</a> to battle against the federal electric vehicle tax credit. The coalition also includes David Williams of the Taxpayer Protection Alliance and Horace Cooper, a senior fellow at the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institute" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Heartland Institute</a>. Landrith is also a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171115202340/http://www.nationalcenter.org/NCPPR_Directors.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">director </a>of the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/national-center-public-policy-research" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR)</a>. The Center for Freedom and Prosperity was <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/climate-deniers/front-groups/center-for-freedom-prosperity-foundation/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">once funded by the Charles Koch Foundation</a> and has actively lobbied for more liberalized tax laws, and for less scrutiny towards offshore tax havens.Seven of the organizations that signed this letter to Pruitt — and five of the actual representatives who signed — <a href="http://www.rstreet.org/outreach/letter-support-policies-encouraging-smokers-to-switch-to-less-harmful-alternatives/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">also recently penned a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration</a> (FDA) defending “electronic and heat-not-burn” tobacco products (or vaping products), indicating that this network is defending the tobacco industry as well as oil and gas companies.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;">California and Partner States Fight Back</h3>Nichols has signaled that California will not be retreating from its strong standards.</div></div></div>