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A new Senate Finance Committee report reveals how since the #GOPTaxScam became law, America’s debt has skyrocketed, while workers have been stranded by broken promises. #TaxScamTurns1 https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-only-people-celebrating-trump-tax-law-birthday-are-fortunate-few- …

A year ago today, Republicans in Congress blew a $2 trillion hole in the budget in order to pay for a giveaway to the wealthy and well connected. #TaxScamTurns1https://twitter.com/RonWyden/status/1075815590248493061 …

Ranking Member @RonWyden introduced legislation today to help workers save for retirement and repay student loans by incentivizing employers to match their employee’s retirement savings. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-measure-ensures-student-loan-debt-wont-keep-recent-graduates-from-saving-for-retirement- …

.@RonWyden: Trump’s dark money policy reinforces that corruption in the system. It concentrates power in the hands of those special interests that can afford to cut a big check and buy the election results they want. It takes power away from individual people.

.@RonWyden: Colleagues, the dark money rule change feeds right into this system of malignant, secretive politics that Americans are sick of. And it gets to the heart of a larger problem. Across the country, our right to vote, our elections, and our democracy are under assault.

.@RonWyden: Colleagues, one thing is clear to me from my conversations with voters in Oregon this election season. What voters DO NOT want is more secret spending from more anonymous wealthy donors and foreigners leading to more political advertising.

.@RonWyden: If the dark money rule change is no big deal then why did the Trump admin work so hard to block the Congress from challenging it? They keep the rule change off the official books for as long as they could, presumably hoping to run out the clock on our oversight.

.@RonWyden: I take a back seat to nobody on the issue of privacy rights in America. But allowing foreigners and mega-wealthy corporations to buy elections in secrecy is not a matter of privacy -- it’s a position of anti-democracy.

.@RonWyden: Now, since this is a tax policy change, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee, where we do a lot of work on issues dealing with tax exemptions. But let’s make one thing clear -- this change got no debate in the Finance Committee.

.@RonWyden: Even if the IRS and state tax authorities suspect a particular spending group is guilty of wrongdoing, they won’t know who provided its cash.

.@RonWyden: Shadowy political spending groups used to be required under tax laws to disclose the identities of their major donors. After this recent change they won’t have to disclose at all.

.@RonWyden: Hours after the majority of the public heard Butina’s name for the first time the Trump admin dropped its dark money bombshell, announcing a new policy that would allow even more untraceable dark money from foreigners & special interests to infiltrate our elections.

.@RonWyden: She cultivated relationships with political insiders. She worked to organized “back channel” lines of communication for the benefit of the Russian Federation. She set up a shell company in North Dakota with an NRA-connected operative.

.@RonWyden: July 16th, 2018. Monday morning. The American people wake up to news of the arrest of an accused Russian spy in Washington named Maria Butina. She came to the U.S. years earlier and set out infiltrating conservative organizations, principally the NRA.

.@RonWyden: But the rule change the Trump administration pushed through this summer is all about darkness. It’s all about secrecy. It’s all about giving the well-connected even MORE of a say in how our government works.

.@RonWyden: If you’re worried about anonymous political insiders with deep pockets tightening their grip on Washington, sunlight is the best disinfectant. And colleagues, sunlight should not be a partisan proposition.

.@RonWyden: I deeply believe when you’re facing down secret money shifting between shadowy groups who want to buy elections, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

.@RonWyden: The Trump administration’s dark money rule makes it easier for foreigners and special interests to corrupt and interfere in our elections. @SenatorTester and I want to make it harder.