Chamber lobbied against 9/11 health bill to save foreign members on taxes

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/chamber-commerce-lobbied-kill-911-responders-bill/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

The US Chamber of Commerce lobbied to kill a bill that would have helped cover medical expenses and compensation for first responders and survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, according to documents available online.

The Chamber's aim was to keep open a tax loophole benefiting foreign corporations that the $7.4 billion bill would have closed to provide funding for the American emergency workers.

In a letter opposing the 9/11 bill, R. Bruce Josten, the Chamber's executive vice president for Government Affairs, cautioned that closing the tax loophole would harm US trade relationships and financial markets.

"In typical fashion, the Chamber has not revealed which of its foreign members had asked them to kill the 9/11 bill," Lee Fang of Alternet.org wrote.

More at the link --

[Andy823]

1. These guys are a joke!

They don't to what is right for business in the U.S.A., they take money from whoever, and then get involved in stuff like this! They should be made to list all their donors so we know just who it is they are working for! I heard yesterday that this bill was going to come up in the senate before the end of the year, I sure hope so because we need to make sure if republicans vote against it in the senate the public knows about it! Crap like this has to stop! These people risked their lives, and we need to make sure they are taken care of.