Koch Industries, the energy conglomerate run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has denied that they are behind the decision to force a government shutdown unless funding for the Affordable Care Act was revoked, according to the New York Times.
The Koch brothers have been hugely influential in financing tea party candidates and have donated millions of dollars aimed at fighting President Barack Obama's signature piece of legislation.
"Koch believes that Obamacare will increase deficits, lead to an overall lowering of the standard of health care and raise taxes," Philip Ellender, a spokesman for Koch Industries, wrote in a letter to senators. "However, Koch has not taken a position on the legislative tactic of tying the continuing resolution to defunding Obamacare, nor have we lobbied on legislative programs defunding Obamacare."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., appears to have provoked the response from Koch Industries after mentioning them during a debate on the Senate floor. Reid accused Republicans of kowtowing to the desires of their richest contributors instead of serving their constituents, the Guardian reports.
"According to the news article (Reid was referencing a New York Times article about the roots of the government shutdown), a former attorney general of the United States, Ed Meese, and the Koch Brothers, have been raising and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get us where we are right now," Reid said. "We are satisfying the Koch brothers and Ed Meese, but millions of people in America are suffering."
Michael Needham, the CEO of Heritage Action, said that his group that is one of the leaders in advocating for the removal of funding for the Affordable Care Act had been given a $500,000 donation from the Koch. It was later revealed that the money had come from Freedom Partners, a Koch-supported group, according to USA Today.
Ellender said that the purpose of the letter was to set things straight about what Koch Industries believes in, the New York Times reports.
"Koch has focused on educating the public about reducing our nation's debt and controlling runaway government spending," Ellender wrote. "We believe that Congress should, at a minimum, keep to sequester-level spending guidelines and develop a plan for more significant and widespread spending reductions in the future. We also believe that Congress should work to rein in rampant government spending so that it becomes no longer necessary to continually raise the debt ceiling."
