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Report: Massive Corporate PAC Money Funneled To Collins, Husted, And Lawler

End Citizens United, a progressive group dedicated to eliminating dark money in politics, has rolled out a new list of the most corrupt lawmakers in Washington.

The list highlights 19 representatives and three senators whom the group says are more beholden to corporate donors than their own constituents. All of the listed lawmakers are Republicans.

“They side with Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Tech, and Wall Street while hardworking Americans pay more for everyday essentials like health care, utilities, and rent,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller.

The senators on the list are Susan Collins of Maine, Jon Husted of Ohio, and Ashley Moody of Florida, all of whom are facing competitive reelection fights this year.

End Citizens United reports that Collins has taken more than $8.3 million from corporate PACs throughout her career, much of it from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. She also has a sizable stock portfolio and opposed a bipartisan push to ban congressional stock trading.

Collins’ stock portfolio grew by more than 77 percent in 2024. During this same period, most Mainers over 65 were spending 10 percent of their income on health care. In 2022, she voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, which slashed pharmaceutical prices for seniors.

Collins also supported the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed corporate tax rates, and voted to advance the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made deep cuts to Medicaid.

Husted, who joined the Senate last year, has accepted more than $550,000 in corporate PAC money. Like Collins, much of this cash came from the insurance industry. Husted also supported the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

End Citizens United also highlights Husted’s ties to billionaire businessman Les Wexner, who was a close associate of deceased sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. Husted accepted $3,500 from Wexner in September 2025, long after Wexner’s ties to Epstein were exposed.

Two months after receiving the donation, Husted voted to block a Senate amendment that would have compelled Attorney General Pam Bondi to publicly release investigative documents related to Epstein.

“The corrupt politicians on this year’s list take money from corporate special interests and billionaires and use their power to protect those same donors as they raise prices on working families,” Muller said.

Notable congresspeople on the list include Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga, New York Rep. Mike Lawler, Pennsylvania Rep. Rob Bresnahan, and Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles.

Reprinted with permission from American Journal News

After Promising To Defund Election Deniers, Corporate PACS Gave Them Millions

A new report by the nonprofit government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, found many of America's blue-chip corporations have collectively given tens of millions of dollars to congressional Republicans who voted against certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 election win, a group CREW dubbed the "Sedition Caucus."

At least 231 companies announced that they would either entirely suspend, temporarily halt, or meaningfully reassess their political giving in the days after a pro-Trump mob fueled by conspiracy theories about the 2020 election stormed the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

After Congress reconvened later that night, 147 Republicans — 139 in the House and 8 in the Senate — voted against certifying the 2020 election, in some cases citing claims of widespread voter fraud. Numerous national- and state-level recounts, election audits, and independent investigations have found no evidence that the outcome of the 2020 election was affected by fraud.

According to the CREW report, 166 of those companies have resumed donating to political campaigns and leadership PACs run by those election objectors. Several companies that condemned the attack are among that number, including Disney, Amazon, and Allstate.

In a statement, a Disney spokesman called the attack "an appalling siege" and criticized legislators who voted against certifying Biden's victory. Amazon said the insurrection was an "unacceptable attempt to undermine a legitimate democratic process," and a senior vice president at Allstate told CNN that the vote "did not align with the committee's commitment to bipartisanship, collaboration and compromise."

However, according to CREW's report, Amazon has since given $46,500 to election objectors, Disney $4,500, and Allstate $36,000.

An Amazon spokesman told the American Independent Foundation that the company's political action committee gives to Congress members who "share our views on issues that are important to our customers and our business in general." The spokesperson said the suspension of donations was not intended to be permanent.

The three companies are far from alone in doubling back on strong statements; Politico reported last week that Cigna, the multi-billion-dollar health insurance giant, gave more than $200,000 to election objectors ahead of the 2022 midterm elections after promising to cease contributing to "any elected official who encouraged or supported violence, or otherwise hindered the peaceful transition of power."

"Some issues are so foundational to our core fiber that they transcend all other matters of public policy," read a Cigna internal memo obtained by CNBC. "There is never any justification for violence or destruction of the kind we saw at the U.S. Capitol — the building that [is] such a powerful symbol of the very democracy that makes our nation strong."

Of the top five corporate donors to election objectors since Jan. 6, 2021 — Koch Industries, Boeing, Valero Energy, Home Depot, and AT&T — all but Koch Industries made some kind of promise to cease giving in the wake of the insurrection.

The report also notes corporate contributions to election deniers who won election to Congress in the 2022 midterms, including Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican who spread false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), who the Daily Beast reported crossed police lines on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 during the insurrection.

Sixty-five of the companies CREW surveyed have remained committed to their public rejection of election objectors, including Meta, BlackRock, Target, and Nike. However, lobbyists working for some of the corporations that publicly pledged to refrain from supporting election objectors, including Microsoft, Meta, Nike, and Dow Chemical Company, have since made personal contributions to some of those lawmakers.

"None of the remaining members who fed lies about the election and voted not to certify have atoned for their actions," CREW research director Robert Maguire told the American Independent Foundation. "What is the point — other than good PR — of making a commitment to not give, if you're just going to start making donations to those same politicians in the same election cycle, only a little later than you normally would have?"

"You can't say you support voting rights or democracy while also making campaign contributions to members of Congress who in many cases tried to disenfranchise voters in entire states and attempted to overturn a free and fair election," Maguire added.

Reprinted with permission from American Independent.

Corporate PACs Resume Giving To GOP Insurrectionists

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who voted to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election, is in charge of his party's effort to regain a majority in the Senate. Despite his attempts to throw out President Joe Biden's electors, several corporate PACs gave tens of thousands last quarter to his group — including some PACs that pledged not to.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Scott chairs, disclosed its finances on Tuesday for the first three months of 2021 to the Federal Election Commission. It reported receiving more than $750,000 in contributions from political action committees associated with corporations and trade associations.

According to research by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, several of those PACs had been critical of Scott and other Republican lawmakers who voted against accepting Biden's victory on January 6. Some companies had promised to pause their PAC giving; others explicitly vowed to stop funding those legislators:

CVS

CVS Health said in January its future PAC donations were "under review based on the events of the past few weeks." It gave $15,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee on March 30.

Home Depot

Home Depot released a Jan. 27 statement that it was "pausing to take time to carefully review and reevaluate each of the members who voted to object to the election results before considering further contributions to them." On March 31, it sent $15,000.

Intel

Intel's PAC gave the party committee $15,000 on March 2. According to Popular Information, the tech giant said in January that its political action committee "continuously reevaluates its contributions to candidates to ensure that they align with our values, policies and priorities," and that "we will not contribute to members of Congress who voted against certification of the Electoral College results as we feel that action was counter to our company's values."

Oracle

National Republican Senatorial Committee received $3,750 from Oracle PAC on March 25. On January 17, the company promised it would "pause contributions to anyone who voted against certifying the November 2020 election results."

PG&E

Pacific Gas & Electric released a January statement, saying, "The lawlessness and mob violence we all witnessed last week is completely unacceptable," and that it planned listening sessions "to better understand our common positions and determine the best path forward." Its PAC donated $15,000 to NRSC on March 9.

Pfizer

"Pfizer PAC will not contribute to any of the 147 Members of Congress who voted against certifying the Electoral College results after the violence we all witnessed," the company reportedly said in a January internal email. "After six months, we will review our decision." The PAC gave $15,000 on March 2, less than two months later.

PNC Financial Services

PNC Financial Services Group sent $15,000 on March 24. They claimed in January that they had "suspended contributions to those members of Congress who voted against the certification of the nation's valid Electoral College votes."

Sanofi

Chemical & Engineering News reported in January that Sanofi and other pharmaceutical firms were cutting off donations to those who objected to the Electoral College count. The company PAC gave $15,000 on March 17.

After his actions in January, Scott faced calls to resign from his National Republican Senatorial Committee post. The editorial board of the Orlando Sentinel blasted him as "unfit for office" and one of "Florida's enemies of democracy."

But rather than hold him accountable as they promised, these eight corporations combined to give him at least $108,750 to support his efforts to elect a GOP Senate in 2022.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

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