FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Max Moran, [email protected]
Possible Treasury Secretary Is Anti-Worker, Anti-Choice, Pro-Monopoly, Pro-Corporate
Last week, Axios reported that the White House is “quietly preparing for the potential departure of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen after the midterms,” which has long been rumored. Rumors also swirl that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is eager to take over the Treasury, which she initially tried to secure during the 2020 Presidential transition.
Revolving Door Project Executive Director Jeff Hauser said “Promoting Gina Raimondo would contradict every part of Biden’s rightly celebrated economic achievements.”
“Biden is the most pro-worker President in living history; Gina Raimondo consistently sells out unions.”
“The Democrats have renewed their commitment to reproductive rights after the overturn of Roe v. Wade; Gina Raimondo made abortion access harder in Rhode Island.”
“Biden has revitalized the American anti-monopoly tradition; Gina Raimondo protected Big Pharma’s monopoly on COVID-19 vaccines and does the bidding of Big Tech monopolies.”
“Biden has made historic investments in the American social safety net, and proposed even more permanent aid to struggling families; Gina Raimondo tried to illegally slash aid to Rhode Island’s most vulnerable families in the middle of a surge in the pandemic.”
“The only people who would benefit from a Raimondo Treasury are C-Suite executives and their cronies, including members of far-right group ALEC that praised her signature policy as Rhode Island Governor. If Biden enjoys his reputation as the most accomplished progressive president of the last 60 years, he cannot and must not promote Raimondo.”
Gina Raimondo Is Anti-Worker:
- In the peak of last year’s microchip crunch, Raimondo shipped preciously limited supply not to American union automakers, but to Huawei Technologies.
- UAW leaders said the chip shortage directly led to layoffs.
- Huawei touts that its surveillance technology can send “Uyghur alarms” to Chinese police, helping prosecute China’s genocide of Uyghur Muslims.
- Huawei is under intense sanctions.
- As Rhode Island governor, Raimondo let her Wall Street donors in the hedge fund industry raid the state’s pension fund.
- Raimondo said that governors need to “have the courage” to fight teacher’s unions.
- Raimondo said that “public servants just need to be honest about the reality” that strong teachers unions allegedly lead to worse student outcomes.
Gina Raimondo Prized Big Pharma’s Profits Over Lives In The Developing World:
- Raimondo oversees the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). When India and South Africa pleaded with the rest of the world to waive IP restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines, so that corporations couldn’t restrict supply to drive up prices, Raimondo went to bat for Big Pharma and fiercely opposed U.S. support for the waiver.
- The Biden administration only agreed in principle to waiving IP restrictions once Raimondo was kept out of the final meeting.
- When nursing home residents were dying of COVID-19 early in the pandemic, Raimondo gave the industry total legal immunity in Rhode Island.
- Raimondo gave Johnson & Johnson $6 million in tax credits and incentives to bring just 75 jobs to Rhode Island.
Gina Raimondo Does Big Tech’s Bidding:
- Gina Raimondo has stacked her Commerce Department with Big Tech executives who are helping set major digital trade rules.
- Raimondo’s Deputy Chief of Staff Luis Jimenez was a Google lobbyist for four years.
- Raimondo’s Deputy White House Liaison Calynn Jenkins was an Amazon lobbyist.
- Raimondo’s Counselor Ted Dean was a Dropbox lobbyist.
- Raimondo’s Director of Policy for the International Trade Administration Cara Morrow developed e-commerce policy for Facebook.
- Raimondo’s former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Services Christopher Hoff is now a lawyer for Microsoft. He tried to weaken Europe’s digital privacy laws while at Commerce.
- Raimondo publicly criticized two pieces of European Union legislation that have very similar goals to the Biden administration on regulating Big Tech.
- Axios wrote that Raimondo is “Tech’s favorite Biden official.”
Gina Raimondo Made Abortion Harder To Access In Rhode Island:
- Raimondo’s Rhode Island budgets required Obamacare plans to include multiple options that excluded abortion coverage.
- When she became Commerce Secretary, Rhode Island’s exchanges had nine plans that excluded abortion. Federal law only requires one plan exclude abortion.
- Raimondo’s administration shifted 9,000 families onto plans that excluded abortion.
- NARAL Pro-Choice America gave Rhode Island an “F” on abortion access under Raimondo in 2016.
- The former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America said Raimondo “has really violated the reproductive rights of women and threatened their health.”
- Gloria Steinem endorsed Raimondo’s 2018 primary challenger due to Raimondo’s abortion record.
Gina Raimondo Demolished Rhode Island’s Social Safety Net:
- Raimondo cut Rhode Island’s Medicaid budget by $58.7 million at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in part to bail out insurance companies.
- Raimondo tried to break the law by cutting Rhode Island’s budget even further in late 2020.
- Raimondo tried to cut aid for “distressed” Rhode Island families in half in September 2020, during a COVID-19 surge.
- Raimondo signed and renewed a contract with Deloitte to run Rhode Island’s public benefits program, even after at least 24,000 people couldn’t access SNAP benefits and Medicaid due to Deloitte’s incompetence.
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PHOTO CREDIT: “Governor Gina Raimondo at the Bristol Fourth of July Parade 2017” by Kenneth Zirkel is licensed under CC-SA-4.0.