Judd Legum

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

"Instead of going to poor families, the audit found, much of the money ended up in the pockets of prominent Mississippians, including [Brett] Favre, a Mississippi native, who was paid $1.1 million for speaking engagements he did not attend." — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

"A lawyer working for a Mississippi state agency and trying to recoup tens of millions of dollars in misused welfare funds was fired on Friday after he issued a subpoena that could turn up details about the involvement of prominent Mississippians" https://t.co/wl6UrUHVOK — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

@FoxNews @Bayer @Nutrisystem @ADT @BauschLomb @Freshpet @WeatherTech @trivago Instead of showing the hearing, @FoxNews showed clips from a 2018 Hillary Clinton interview and sold some t-shirts. https://t.co/3DWkszD2NZ — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

These are the corporations that advertised on @FoxNews last night while the channel aired its normal lineup of Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, instead of the January 6 committee hearing: @Bayer @Nutrisystem @ADT @BauschLomb @Freshpet @WeatherTech @trivago — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

5. It seems like these companies may have believed that everyone has stopped paying attention. Well, Popular Information never stops paying attention. If you are interested in journalism that sticks with a story, check us out. It's free to sign up. https://t.co/TfpCItdVSo — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

@Hallmark @HawleyMO @RogerMarshallMD @RepSamGraves @RepBlaine @JakeLaTurner @CommerceBank 4. Are you noticing a pattern with @RepBlaine? In May 2021, @Bloomberg reported that @RepBlaine was threatening to put corporations that cut off his support on an "enemies list." https://t.co/RFO1zw5jex — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

@Hallmark @HawleyMO @RogerMarshallMD @RepSamGraves @RepBlaine @JakeLaTurner 3. UPDATE: When Popular Information published its first story on corporate support for Republican objectors on 1/10/21, only 3 companies said they would cut off funding One of them was @CommerceBank On 6/14/22, @CommerceBank donated 1.5K to @RepBlaine, a Republican objector https://t.co/75ZSyE2Pwr — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

@Hallmark @HawleyMO @RogerMarshallMD 2. @Hallmark donated 5K to @RepSamGraves, 2K to @RepBlaine, and 5K to @JakeLaTurner on June 7, 2022 All three voted to overturn the election on January 6, 2021 — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

UPDATE: On January 12, 2021, @Hallmark was so incensed by the members of Congress that voted to overturn the election that it demanded refunds from @HawleyMO and @RogerMarshallMD On June 7, 2022, @Hallmark donated to three Republican objectors https://t.co/tN3YbWiT8Z — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

RT @JuddLegum: 1. Prior to Citizens United, billionaires spent a negligible amount on federal elections Today, billionaires are using a sm… — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

Members of Congress and their spouses should be prohibited from trading individual stocks. Period. — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

14. This entire story is a good example of how our political system is unbalanced. While the chip manufacturers spend 10s of millions to convince Congress to support this bill, there is essentially no money being spent opposing it. — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

13. Some of the outlets covering this story are actually sponsored by the corporate trade association leading the massive lobbying campaign for this bill. For independent accountability journalism, check out Popular Information. It's free to sign up. https://t.co/TfpCItdVSo — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

@podcastrespectr @intel Then why are there four such facilities under construction in the US right now? — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

12. While the bill is pitched as a way to counter the influence of @China, @Intel is currently lobbying to weaken the "guardrails" of the bill. It wants to accept funds from US taxpayers and continue to expand chip manufacturing in China as well. https://t.co/B2hAqa3VYw — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

11. Notably, some of the companies spending the most lobbying for taxpayer money are not American companies. @SamsungUS is a South Korean company. @GlobalFoundries is majority owned by the sovereign wealth fund of the UAE. https://t.co/B2hAqa3VYw — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

10. The key Senators pushing the CHIPS Act are @SenSchumer and @JohnCornyn. A former Schumer staffer and a former Cornyn staffer formed a lobbying firm in 2020, Klein/Johnson. @Intel hired Klein/Johnson and now pays them 50K every 3 months. — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

9. The five chip manufacturers poised to benefit most from the CHIPS Act and the trade association that represents them have spent $34.8 million on lobbying since 2020. @Intel alone has spent $10.9 million, including $1.75 million in the last three months — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

8. @Intel pretended it was delaying the groundbreaking at a new Ohio facility until the CHIPS Act becomes law But, as it turns out, @Intel only delayed the groundbreaking CEREMONY. Construction has already started. An Intel spokesperson admitted the timeline didn't change. — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

7. It's not like these companies lack the resources to build new facilities themselves. @Intel, the largest proponent of the bill, had $20 billion in profits. It paid its CEO, Pat Gelsinger, $176 million. Since the start of the pandemic, it spent $16.6 billion on stock buybacks. https://t.co/Ot34se9UTX — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

6. Will $76 billion in subsidies incentivize these companies to build new fabs? Or will this money simply be a windfall for companies that are already expanding their capacity in the United States? https://t.co/B2hAqa3VYw — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

5. But geopolitical instability is not just a national security concern. It's also an economic risk. That's why, even in the absence of federal subsidies, chip makers are building new manufacturing facilities in the US. They want to ensure a consistent supply to a large market. https://t.co/kmR6274iyF — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

4. The other argument is that domestic chip manufacturing is a national security issue because 90% of advanced chips are produced in Taiwan, which one day could be invaded by China — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

3. Meanwhile, the shortage is already easing and some analysts are predicting that supply will outstrip demand "in the second half of 2022 or 2023." https://t.co/B2hAqa3VYw — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

2. The bill, called the CHIPS Act, is intended to address a very real problem: the shortage of computer chips. The bill incentivizes domestic chip production. But even supporters of the bill admit it won't solve the current shortage New factories take years to construct — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

1. There is a massive lobbying and PR campaign to convince Congress to provide $76 billion in taxpayer subsidies to the highly-profitable computer chip industry. And it appears to be working. Does this make any sense? Let's dig in. https://t.co/B2hAqa3VYw — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

Millions of American children are living in poverty and a bipartisan group in Congress is working together to provide billions in subsidies to the highly profitable computer chip industry — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

Gov. Greg Abbott did not attend funerals for any of the Uvalde shooting victims https://t.co/5BF0QJquly — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

8. One of the weaknesses in our media ecosystem is that the press releases announcing these policies to pay for abortion-related travel receive wide coverage, but corporate political spending is largely ignored. — PolitiTweet.org

Judd Legum @JuddLegum

7. For more accountability journalism that follows the money, check out my newsletter, Popular Information. It's free to sign up. https://t.co/TfpCItdVSo — PolitiTweet.org