AFL/CIO Gives $206.7 Million to Obama, Gets 40% of All ObamaCare Waivers
This is is AFL/CIO Union President Richard Trumka. He said that government should take over all private business, who speaks in front of communist revolutionary groups, and has a long history of violence. Trumka brags that he talks to the White House every day and visits twice a week (video). Trumka also says that the best way to create jobs is to raise taxes. Keep in mind that each ObamaCare waiver results in a massive tax cut.
AFL/CIO Union Leader Rich Trumka
Waivers for Favors
When President Obama was campaigning in 2008, he spoke often of his desire to limit the influence of lobbyists in Washington. There’s only one problem: the more government involves itself in the private sector, the more private businesses needs to hire lobbyists to make sure that new laws and regulations don’t put them out of business. Inevitably, the next step involves campaign contributions to key lawmakers, protection money that ensures that the law favors those with the right political connections.
In the case of Obamacare, this phenomenon shows up in manifold ways. Roy Poses highlights the story of how Dr. Elias Zerhouni, former head of the National Institutes of Health, had leveraged his position into lucrative corporate packages. Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner has been tracking a long list of Washington officials and staffers who are taking advantage of “The Great Health-Care Cashout.”
Then came the news last week the Department of Health and Human Services has granted over 700 waivers [Note - this number is up to 1,200 last we checked - Political Arena Editor] to Obamacare’s obtuse rule that businesses drop “mini-med” plans in favor of more expensive, comprehensive coverage. Many businesses, such as McDonald’s, were faced with dropping their health coverage entirely, rather than face the prohibitive expense of complying with the new law. So rather than repealing the regulation, HHS has taken it upon itself to grant waivers arbitrarily to those whom it deems fit.
The Casablanca-style shocker is that, of the more than 2 million workers who will benefit from the HHS waivers, 40 percent belong to labor unions [as of 2011] “Waivers for Favors,” as Michelle Malkin memorably put it:
The Teamsters Union, which hailed Obama last March for “enacting historic health care reform, providing health insurance to millions of Americans who don’t have it and controlling costs for millions more who do,” obtained waivers for 17 different locals.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which celebrated the passage of Obamacare as “an achievement that will rank among the highest in our national experience,” secured waivers for 28 different affiliates.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — which exulted after the health-care law’s passage that “finally, affordable and comprehensive health care coverage will be available for millions of working Americans” — saw eight of its affiliates win shelter from the Obamacare wrecking ball.
The Communications Workers of America, which sent its workers to lobby for Obamacare on Capitol Hill as part of the Health Care for America Now front group funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros, snagged a waiver that will spare a hefty 19,000 of its members from the onerous federal mandate.
And the Service Employees International Union, which poured $60 million into Democratic/Obama coffers in 2008 and millions more into the campaign for the federal health-care takeover, added four new affiliates to the waiver list: SEIU Local 2000 Health and Welfare Fund, representing 161 enrollees; SEIU 32BJ North Health Benefit Fund, representing 7,020 enrollees; SEIU Local 300, Civil Service Forum Employees Welfare Fund, representing 2,000 enrollees; and SEIU Health & Welfare Fund, representing 1,620 enrollees.
That’s in addition to three other previous SEIU waiver winners: Local 25 SEIU in Chicago with 31,000 enrollees; Local 1199 SEIU Greater New York Benefit Fund with 4,544 enrollees; and SEIU Local 1 Cleveland Welfare Fund with 520 enrollees. This brings the total number of Obamacare-promoting SEIU Obamacare refugees to an estimated 45,000 workers represented by seven SEIU locals.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, labor unions represent less than 7 percent of the private sector workforce, compared to 40 percent of HHS’ waivers. Does anyone seriously believe that HHS is handing these waivers out based on merit and need, rather than political self-interest?