William Gallagher
Watchdog claims unspecified groups, including some backed by Apple and Microsoft, are opposing President Biden's $3.5 trillion budget bill to combat climate change.
Non-partisan group Accountable.US says that the Democrats' bill is the target of corporate lobby groups and other organizations. According to The Guardian, these groups feature prominent US companies including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Disney.
"Major corporations love to tell us how committed they are to addressing the climate crisis and building a sustainable future," Accountable.US president Kyle Herrig told the newspaper, "but behind closed doors, they are funding the very industry trade groups that are fighting tooth and nail to stop the biggest climate change bill ever."
Accountable.US has separately reported on Apple profiting from tax breaks instigated by President Trump, and concluded that it is now lobbying to keep them.
Neither The Guardian, nor Accountable.US, have detailed Apple's active part in the lobby groups, nor established what those groups are, if there is a voting structure, or how the decision-making works for the lobbyist groups. Accountable.US has separately linked Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to the US Chamber of Commerce PAC, but chiefly refers only to groups representing "corporate interests."
The Guardian says that one such group is the Business Roundtable. It notes that this organization is made up of company CEOs, including Apple's Tim Cook.
Apple has not commented on the report. It has recently, however, claimed that it hopes its environmental efforts will lead other firms to do the same.
"You need businesses that are proactive, that are continuing to push forward, and really view it as a priority," said Alisha Johnson, lead of Apple's Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, "not just as a PR statement, but in the execution of their work."
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
25 Comments
They’re opposing the bill because it’s full of garbage. Besides, it’s not being called a climate change bill it’s being called an infrastructure bill, get the topic of the article correct. It doesn’t do what it claims it will and it’s far more than $3.5T at the end of the day. Good for them. A Libtard whoever Senator or whatever he is threw a page in that lays out groundwork for our government to bankrupt any business that doesn’t follow Biden’s vaccination mandate by fining any company $700,000/employee that’s not vaccinated. That’s asinine! How is this infrastructure? How does this help our “Roads and bridges”? I call good on them and I call BS on this pork filled bill.
Corporations usually put up a veneer of social responsibility that's highly visible, while in the background lobbying for all kinds of things that eclipse the public social responsibility plays. This applied to Apple, and it applies to its privacy marketing theme also.
Yet another clickbait headline from AppleInsider. Read the article and the headline does not match the content. it’s all conclusions, allegations, hearsay. Bottom line? It’s a political attack carried out by climate change radicals, pure and simple.