The strongest of all warriors are these two–Time and Patience –Leo Tolstoy

H.J. Res. 41–The Legal Bribery Bill

On February 1, the House considered H.J. Res. 41, Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of a Securities and Exchange Commission rule relating to “Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers” or, the more aptly titled, Make Corporate Bribery Legal Again Act. This legislation seeks to invalidate the rule that requires companies involved in oil, gas or mineral extraction who are registered in the United States to report any payment they make to a foreign government of $100,000 or more.  The reason for the rule is to make public how much money companies are paying to foreign governments.   H.J. Res. 41 invalidates the disclosure requirement.

Rep. Reed voted in favor; only four Republicans (Fitzpatrick-PA, Jones-NC, Royce-CA, Smith-NJ) were opposed.

Many corporations make bribes—and pay fines for breaking the law.

ProPublica reported in 2011:

Many large companies have been investigated for bribery of foreign officials, including Hewlett-Packard and Motorola. The United States has recently stepped up its enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, including a preliminary investigation this year into whether News Corp. may have violated the act. A recent survey of business executives found that only 30 percent were “very confident” that their existing policies would prevent bribery.

Koch Industries has used bribes to secure contracts as documented in the ProPublica article.

This action by Congress isn’t in the public interest, but rather invites large companies which support political campaigns to pay bribes. Shame on Tom Reed for supporting it. Those attending his meetings on Feb. 18 might ask him to explain his vote.

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll072.xml

https://www.propublica.org/article/so-what-exactly-are-the-latest-revelations-about-koch-industries