November 10: Small Business Owners Demand Banks, Health Insurers, Oil Companies Come Clean on Dark Money
Small Business Owners to Banks, Insurers, Energy Companies: “How Are You Spending Our Money?”
Washington, DC—Small business owners in the Main Street Alliance network launched the “Business Against Dark Money” campaign today, calling on banks, health insurers, and oil companies to fully disclose their “dark money” spending – dues and contributions to trade associations and other third parties that can then be used for political purposes, often to advance big business interests at the expense of small businesses, without disclosure of the original source.
Click here to view the full press release
Sign a Business Letter in Support of Clean Air, Smog Standards
Ground-level ozone – commonly known as “smog” – harms public health and worker productivity. Ozone reduces lung function, inflames airways and aggravates respiratory problems like asthma and lung disease. According to the EPA, strengthening ozone standards will annually prevent or avoid up to 58,000 asthma attacks, 21,000 hospital and ER visits, and 420,000 lost work days.
But efforts to strengthen these standards are under attack by major polluters using an old trick – hiding behind small business. The Main Street Alliance is inviting small business owners to sign a letter to the White House to demonstrate that you support clean air and strong ozone standards to protect community health and productivity.
A TRAIN that Shouldn’t Leave the Station
Opponents of clean air and water standards are putting their money into a new set of wheels. It’s called the TRAIN Act (TRAIN stands for Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation – read the bill here).
Put briefly, this proposal is an attempt to open a new line of attack on the Environmental Protection Agency and rules that protect and promote clean air and water, veiled in the language of “cost-benefit analyses.” And when the proponents of this proposal say “cost-benefit” analysis, what they really mean is “cost-cost” analysis – that is, an evaluation that takes into account only the costs and not the benefits of clean air and water for businesses, local economies, and communities. Continue reading
