Last Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, in a bipartisan 10-7 vote, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution granting Obama authority to conduct military strikes war on Syria.
Approving the Syrian resolution are 3 Republicans and 7 Democrats:
- Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
- Bob Corker (R-TN)
- John McCain (R-AZ)
- Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
- Ben Cardin (D-CA)
- Chris Coons (D-DE)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Timothy Kaine (D-VA)
- Bob Menéndez (D-NJ)
- Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Opposing the resolution are 5 Republicans and 2 Democrats:
- John Barrasso (R-WY)
- Ron Johnson (R-WI)
- Rand Paul (R-KY)
- Jim Risch (R-ID)
- Marco Rubio (R-FL)
- Chris Murphy (D-CT)
- Tom Udall (D-NM)
Guess what?
The senators who voted in favor of Obama’s war against Syria received an average of 83% more campaign “contributions” from the defense industry than the senators who voted against war.
SURPRISE! . . . not.
David Kravets reports for WIRED, Sept. 5, 2013, that the senators who had voted to authorize a Syria strike received, on average, 83% more campaign financing from defense contractors than lawmakers voting against war.
Overall, political action committees and employees from defense and intelligence firms such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, United Technologies, Honeywell International, and others ponied up $1,006,887 to the 17 members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who voted yes or no on the authorization Wednesday, according to an analysis by Maplight, the Berkeley-based nonprofit that performed the inquiry at WIRED’s request.
Committee members who voted to authorize what the resolution called a “limited” strike averaged $72,850 in defense campaign financing from the pot. Committee members who voted against the resolution averaged $39,770, according to the data.
The analysis of contributions from employees and PACs of defense industry interests ranges from 2007 through 2012 — based on data tracked by OpenSecrets.org.
Dick Durbin, John McCain, Timothy Kaine
The top three defense-campaign earners who voted “yes” were Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) at $176,000; Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) at $127,350; and Sen. Timothy Kaine (D-Virginia) at $101,025.
The top three defense-campaign earners who voted “no” were Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) at $86,500; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) at $62,790; and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) at $59,250.
H/t RIA Novosti
~Eowyn
Dr. Eowyn is the Editor of Fellowship of the Minds and a regular contributor to The D.C. Clothesline.
