Some Democrats Are Still Trying... To Lose the Next Election

PRESS RELEASE

Some Democrats Are Still Trying... To Lose the Next Election

July 25, 2007 (EIRNS)—The following release was issued today by the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee (LPAC).

Democratic statesman Lyndon LaRouche recently stated that the hedge funds, and the private equity industry, which controls $700 billion in capital, should pay up, declaring: "Let them shut up and pay taxes like everyone else."

It seems as if some democrats are still too afraid to listen.

Sen. Charles Schumer, the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is leading the fight against the Grassley-Baucus bill, a bill which would force hedge funds and private equity firms pay the same taxes as other corporations. Adopting the popular congressional "poison pill" tactic, instead of outrightly opposing the bill, Sen. Schumer, backed by majority leader Harry Reid, has demanded the bill also apply to energy, real estate, and ethanol transport partnerships, all of which are also taxed at a lower rate. This would take an already bi-partisan bill, force it back into the committee, causing almost endless debate and compromise.

"They contribute most of their money to the Democratic Party and he [Schumer] wants to protect the income," said Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee in an interview with Bloomberg.com

Currently, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee received $779,100 from employees of private-equity firms and hedge funds in June, six times their combined total in June 2005, federal filings show. That far exceeds the industry's contributions of only about $60,000 to the Republican Senate Campaign Committee.