Senator Collins is among the Senate’s biggest beneficiaries of Wall Street cash, pushed for version of aid package that lacked corporate oversight

 

New reporting from CNBC has revealed that lobbyists for the nation’s private equity industry pushed for hundreds of billions of dollars in a corporate slush fund with insufficient oversight and accountability in the latest coronavirus aid package. Senator Susan Collins fought to push through an early draft of the aid package that included a $500 billion corporate giveaway that lacked sufficient assurances that corporations wouldn’t use the taxpayer funds for stock buybacks or CEO bonuses.

 

Senator Collins became one of the US Senate’s biggest beneficiaries of private equity money after backing the 2017 GOP tax bill that handed over billions of dollars to Wall Street. 1820 PAC, the largest dark money group backing Senator Collins’ reelection, is primarily funded by private equity billionaire Stephen Schwarzman. Schwarzman’s private equity firm was among those lobbying Congress to provide hundreds of billions of dollars for corporate bailouts in the coronavirus aid package.

 

“When it comes to responding to the coronavirus crisis, Maine’s members of Congress should be focused on supporting struggling families and health care workers, not a wish list for Wall Street billionaires,” said Maine Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Marra. “Time and again we have seen Senator Collins prioritizing the whims of her corporate special interest donors over the needs of her constituents. We deserve a Senator who puts Maine people first.”

 

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