![]() Donors in the banking or securities and investment industries gave $1.8 million in direct contributions to South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison’s campaign, slightly more than the $1.7 million they gave to incumbent Republican Lindsey Graham. ![]() Wall Street backed some other lost causes. He also gave $2 million to the 1820 PAC, which supported Maine Senator Susan Collins, and $1 million to a super-PAC that backed Michigan Senate candidate John James, who lost to incumbent Democrat Gary Peters.Ī Blackstone spokesman said the company’s employees in their personal capacities have given to candidates on both sides of the aisle and that while Schwarzman has supported many Republican congressional candidates over the years, many other employees supported Democrats. Schwarzman gave $35 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super-PAC with ties to McConnell, making him one of the top donors to the group. A major donor like Blackstone Chairman Stephen Schwarzman gives tens of millions to Senate Republicans and thinks “he’s getting Mitch McConnell’s ear,” Hauser said. Still, Hauser said Wall Street megadonors, especially to Republicans, can expect House and Senate leadership to take their calls. This trend is amplified by the fact that campaign spending hasn’t seemed to have as much of an impact in the age of hyper-partisan elections, Hauser said. The waning influence of Wall Street partly reflects the growing importance of small-dollar donors, those who give less than $200, as a major source of money for Democrats, making them less reliant on megadonors than Trump has been, said Jeff Hauser, director of the Revolving Door Project, which tracks the conflicts of interest of executives moving into and out of government. Thus far Biden’s only high-profile pick has been incoming national economic adviser Brian Deese, who worked a few years in the sustainable investing department at BlackRock after serving in President Barack Obama’s White House. Trump in the early days of the administration surrounded himself with Goldman Sachs alumni, such as White House adviser Steve Bannon, National Economic Adviser Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. It’s not clear how much influence or access Wall Street has actually bought. Groups that backed Biden but didn’t spend in any down-ballot races got $61 million from donors in the securities and investment industry compared to $15 million for those backing Trump. The preference for super-PACs backing congressional Republicans wasn’t matched on the presidential level. Those numbers understate political giving from financial industry figures, who donated another $48 million to super-PACs that split their money between congressional and presidential spending. Bennett contributed to this story.But Wall Street donors also poured $195 million into super-PACs that spent at least $5 million on congressional races, with Republican groups getting $135 million to $60 million for Democratic groups. “The president met with Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Senators Shelby and Thune in the Oval Office to discuss the lame duck agenda, including the farm bill, government appropriations - including border security - disaster relief funding, nominations, and prison reform,” Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement. ![]() The White House, for its part, confirmed the meeting took place. Shelby said that he said during the meeting that they should never want a government shutdown, and that Trump did not threaten even a partial shutdown over potentially not getting $5 billion in wall-related appropriations. 7, deadline is the Department of Homeland Security. Much of the discretionary appropriations for fiscal 2019 have already been signed into law, but among the departments waiting for action ahead of a Dec. “We had a good meeting, as the leader said.” “The president was in a good mood,” Shelby said. Shelby, who was with McConnell and incoming GOP Whip John Thune at the White House, declined to get into details of his proposal to address the border security question. “And I’ll tell you when we get it.”Īppropriations Chairman Richard C. Gabbard served on the Honolulu City Council. “We talked about border security, and how to resolve all this, and we’re optimistic we have a way forward,” the Kentucky Republican said. Senator Gabbard represents Hawaiis 21st Senatorial District and has served in the Hawaii State Senate since 2006. ![]() “We had a good discussion about funding the government and the other sort of end-of-year items, and we’re optimistic we’re going to be able to get that done, get the farm bill done and move on toward the conclusion of the session,” McConnell said. Returning from a meeting with President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was optimistic about a deal on finishing off remaining spending bills without a shutdown showdown over building a wall at the border with Mexico.
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