Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green.
Five senators and 39 representatives received a perfect 100 percent score from the Koch brothers’ astroturf group Americans For Prosperity (AFP) for the first half of the 112th Congress. AFP judged Congress on their votes to protect the Koch brothers’ right-wing petrochemical empire on such issues as the repeal of President Obama’s new health care law, preempting EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases, Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget to end Medicare, ending ethanol subsidies, several Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval to overturn new regulations, and the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bills.
The Koch Five are Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who have received a combined $187,400 in campaign contributions from the Koch empire:
Senator | Koch Contributions |
---|---|
Coburn | $56,300 |
Crapo | $42,000 |
Hatch | $26,500 |
Rubio | $34,700 |
Johnson | $27,900 |
The Kochs were the top contributors to Johnson’s successful campaign to unseat Russ Feingold in 2010. Like first-termers Rubio and Johnson, Coburn has a perfect lifetime Koch score.