Petaluma, Calif. – President-elect Barack Obama has apparently decided to drop a campaign promise to America's 27 million small business owners to stop the diversion of billions of dollars in government small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. Obama's February 26th pledge to address the problem has been dropped from the Change.gov website.
In February, President-elect Obama issued the following statement, “Small businesses are the backbone of our nation's economy and we must protect this great resource. It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.” (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
Obama reiterated his pledge to address the problem in his Small Business Emergency Rescue Plan, which was released on October 10th. The Obama Small Business Rescue Plan was included in the Obama-Biden campaign website but was subsequently dropped from the Change.gov website. (http://obama.3cdn.net/d14eb1b3649c4d6745_0evzmv02w.pdf)
Now, any reference to Obama’s campaign promise to “end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants” has disappeared completely.
Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have found that billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms, their subsidiaries and other clearly large firms in the United States and even Europe. The story has been covered by nearly every major newspaper in the nation, over a hundred radio stations, and by ABC, CBS and CNN. (ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170)
Some of the firms that have been exposed as recipients of federal small business contracts include Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Hewlett-Packard, Dell Computers, Rolls-Royce, Home Depot, Xerox, John Deere and British Aerospace (BAE).
Report 5-16 from the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) found that large businesses had received government small business contracts through, "vendor deception" and "false certifications". (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-16.pdf)
In 2005, the SBA OIG issued Report 5-15, which stated, “One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the entire Federal Government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards.” (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)
“Over 80 percent of the new jobs in this country are created by our nation’s 27 million small businesses, and those small businesses employ over 56 percent of all Americans. If President-elect Obama is serious about helping our nation recover from this economic crisis, he needs to stop Fortune 500 firms from hijacking billions of dollars in federal small business contracts,” American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman said. “The surprisingly low priority Obama has given small business issues on his websites is a clear indication this is not going to be a pro small business administration.”
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Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Mother Jones: Did Barack Obama just break his first campaign promise?
Yesterday, Nick Baumann with Mother Jones Magazine published the following blog on Mother Jones’ MojoBlog. Very interesting…
Posted by Nick Baumann | Mother Jones – MojoBlog
Did Barack Obama just break his first campaign promise?
On the campaign trail, Obama railed against big oil companies. He often criticized John McCain for backing tax cuts that would reward ExxonMobil and other top oil manufacturers. But now Obama's proposal to apply a windfall tax on big oil has vanished... at least from his transition website. The President-elect's transition team hasn't explicitly announced it will drop the windfall tax plan, but a transition aide, commenting on the condition he not be identified, backed off the promise in an email. "President-elect Obama announced the [windfall profits tax] policy during the campaign because oil prices were above $80 per barrel," he said. "They are currently below that now and expected to stay below that."
The windfall profits proposal was deleted from the transition website almost three weeks before the eagle-eyed American Small Business League (ASBL), an advocacy group for small businesses, noticed the change and protested in a press release Tuesday. The plan was mentioned in a version (PDF) of the site that existed after Obama's election win. But when the transition website relaunched on November 8, references to a excess profits tax on the oil and gas industry were gone.
Obama talked about a windfall profits tax as early as April. As crude oil prices topped $110 a barrel, Obama promised to "put a windfall profits tax on oil companies and use it to help ... families pay their heating and cooling bills and reduce energy costs." And in August, the Democratic nominee issued a campaign ad that promised "a windfall profits tax on big oil to give families a thousand dollar rebate." The windfall profits tax was a key point of contention between President-elect Obama and McCain in June, when McCain criticized Obama for the plan, calling it "dangerous".
Cathy Landry, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies for the oil and gas industry, says that her organization hadn't heard any details of the Obama team's change in plans, but that the oil and gas lobby was happy to hear about it. "[API] is pleased that President-elect Obama is reevaluating his position, particularly considering the economic situation," Landry said. "The oil and gas industry has been one of the bright spots in the economy, and this would be a bad time to snuff out bright spots in the economy."
By the way, on October 30, ExxonMobil reported its quarterly earnings. It netted $14.83 billion, setting a national record for quarterly profits. Bright spot, indeed.
Posted by Nick Baumann | Mother Jones – MojoBlog
Did Barack Obama just break his first campaign promise?
On the campaign trail, Obama railed against big oil companies. He often criticized John McCain for backing tax cuts that would reward ExxonMobil and other top oil manufacturers. But now Obama's proposal to apply a windfall tax on big oil has vanished... at least from his transition website. The President-elect's transition team hasn't explicitly announced it will drop the windfall tax plan, but a transition aide, commenting on the condition he not be identified, backed off the promise in an email. "President-elect Obama announced the [windfall profits tax] policy during the campaign because oil prices were above $80 per barrel," he said. "They are currently below that now and expected to stay below that."
The windfall profits proposal was deleted from the transition website almost three weeks before the eagle-eyed American Small Business League (ASBL), an advocacy group for small businesses, noticed the change and protested in a press release Tuesday. The plan was mentioned in a version (PDF) of the site that existed after Obama's election win. But when the transition website relaunched on November 8, references to a excess profits tax on the oil and gas industry were gone.
Obama talked about a windfall profits tax as early as April. As crude oil prices topped $110 a barrel, Obama promised to "put a windfall profits tax on oil companies and use it to help ... families pay their heating and cooling bills and reduce energy costs." And in August, the Democratic nominee issued a campaign ad that promised "a windfall profits tax on big oil to give families a thousand dollar rebate." The windfall profits tax was a key point of contention between President-elect Obama and McCain in June, when McCain criticized Obama for the plan, calling it "dangerous".
ASBL president and founder Lloyd Chapman says he was "disappointed" and "surprised" that Obama dropped the windfall tax plan. He maintains that a reduction in the price of oil does not justify the policy shift. "There's not always a correlation between the price of a barrel of oil and what we're paying at the pump," Chapman said. "The oil and gas companies are clearly making excessive profits. They've taken advantage of the fact that there's no regulation of that industry and overcharged at the pump and hurt our economy. The excessive profits tax is based on the excessive profits they've made in the last eight years. The tax was to get some of that money back for the American people."
Cathy Landry, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies for the oil and gas industry, says that her organization hadn't heard any details of the Obama team's change in plans, but that the oil and gas lobby was happy to hear about it. "[API] is pleased that President-elect Obama is reevaluating his position, particularly considering the economic situation," Landry said. "The oil and gas industry has been one of the bright spots in the economy, and this would be a bad time to snuff out bright spots in the economy."
By the way, on October 30, ExxonMobil reported its quarterly earnings. It netted $14.83 billion, setting a national record for quarterly profits. Bright spot, indeed.
Podcast: Obama Drops Windfall Profits Tax for Oil and Gas Industry
Yesterday, the American Small Business League posted the following podcast on its website, www.asbl.com. In the podcast, ASBL's Director of Government Affairs Kevin Baron addresses the dismissal of President-elect Obama's promise to enact a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry from the Obama-Biden Transition Team's website, www.change.gov.
Click here to listen: http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1209
Click here to listen: http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1209
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Obama Drops Windfall Profits Tax for Oil and Gas Industry
Obama Backs Down from Promise to Institute Windfall Profits Tax
Petaluma, Calif. – President-elect Barack Obama has removed any reference of his promise to implement a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry from the Obama-Biden Transition Team website, www.change.gov.
During the course of the 2008 presidential election, the Obama campaign called for a windfall profits tax on the oil industry as a means of subsidizing a $1,000 "emergency" rebate for consumers struggling with surging gas prices. However www.change.gov, which houses the Obama-Biden transition agenda, was recently cleansed of any mention of such a tax.
The promise was displayed prominently at the top of the “economy” section of Obama’s campaign website. That same information was transferred to Obama’s transition website, www.change.gov, when it was launched on Thursday, November 6th. However, the language regarding the windfall profits tax was removed on Saturday, November 8th in an unceremonious and abrupt manner. (pre-change, http://www.asbl.com/documents/Economy_Change.pdf ; post-change, http://change.gov/agenda/economy_agenda/ )
While on the campaign trail, Obama made provocative statements regarding the cost of energy and its respective negative impact on American families. On May 6, 2008, Obama stated, “It isn't right that oil companies are making record profits at a time when ordinary Americans are going into debt trying to pay rising energy costs. That's why we'll put a windfall profits tax on oil companies and use it to help Indiana families pay their heating and cooling bills and reduce energy costs.” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/25/barackobama.uselections20081)
With the election behind him, President-elect Obama has failed to justify the removal of the windfall profits tax from his tax plan. The subtle and unexplained elimination of this issue from the Obama-Biden agenda should concern Americans from every background. The American Small Business League (ASBL) questions whether the sudden elimination of this issue is a further indication that large corporations are already demonstrating their ability to influence the Obama Administration. (www.asbl.com)
“This is not the only campaign promise the Obama-Biden Transition Team has removed from change.gov; I believe that President-elect Obama owes the American people an explanation as to why these campaign promises have been pulled from his agenda.” American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman said. “With that in mind, someone from the mainstream media needs to ask President-elect Obama why these policies have been dropped.”
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Petaluma, Calif. – President-elect Barack Obama has removed any reference of his promise to implement a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry from the Obama-Biden Transition Team website, www.change.gov.
During the course of the 2008 presidential election, the Obama campaign called for a windfall profits tax on the oil industry as a means of subsidizing a $1,000 "emergency" rebate for consumers struggling with surging gas prices. However www.change.gov, which houses the Obama-Biden transition agenda, was recently cleansed of any mention of such a tax.
The promise was displayed prominently at the top of the “economy” section of Obama’s campaign website. That same information was transferred to Obama’s transition website, www.change.gov, when it was launched on Thursday, November 6th. However, the language regarding the windfall profits tax was removed on Saturday, November 8th in an unceremonious and abrupt manner. (pre-change, http://www.asbl.com/documents/Economy_Change.pdf ; post-change, http://change.gov/agenda/economy_agenda/ )
While on the campaign trail, Obama made provocative statements regarding the cost of energy and its respective negative impact on American families. On May 6, 2008, Obama stated, “It isn't right that oil companies are making record profits at a time when ordinary Americans are going into debt trying to pay rising energy costs. That's why we'll put a windfall profits tax on oil companies and use it to help Indiana families pay their heating and cooling bills and reduce energy costs.” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/25/barackobama.uselections20081)
With the election behind him, President-elect Obama has failed to justify the removal of the windfall profits tax from his tax plan. The subtle and unexplained elimination of this issue from the Obama-Biden agenda should concern Americans from every background. The American Small Business League (ASBL) questions whether the sudden elimination of this issue is a further indication that large corporations are already demonstrating their ability to influence the Obama Administration. (www.asbl.com)
“This is not the only campaign promise the Obama-Biden Transition Team has removed from change.gov; I believe that President-elect Obama owes the American people an explanation as to why these campaign promises have been pulled from his agenda.” American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman said. “With that in mind, someone from the mainstream media needs to ask President-elect Obama why these policies have been dropped.”
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Monday, December 1, 2008
Lloyd Chapman on CNN: The Diversion of Small Business Contracts to Large Corporations
The following clip ran recently ran on CNN regarding the presidential elections and the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations. American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman is featured on the clip specifically discussing Barack Obama's refusal to acknowledge more than 15 federal investigations, which have found fraud, abuse, loopholes and a lack of oversight in federal small business contracting programs. All of which have led to the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracting opportunities to Fortune 500 corporations, their subsidiaries and other clearly large firms in the United States and Europe.
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