{"id":33143,"date":"2016-03-07T15:28:30","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T19:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=33143"},"modified":"2016-03-07T15:28:30","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T19:28:30","slug":"marco-rubios-new-billionaire-backer-top-funder-for-open-borders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=33143","title":{"rendered":"Marco Rubio\u2019s New Billionaire Backer Top Funder for Open Borders"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"Marco-Rubio-Profile-AP-with-Paul-Singer-CC-SA-640x480\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by<\/i><\/span> JULIA HAHN
\nBREITBART.com<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer\u2019s decision to throw his financial weight behind the\u00a0donor-class 2016 favorite, <\/span>Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)<\/b><\/span>, has sparked fresh questions about Rubio\u2019s coziness\u00a0with the financial interests funding his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

Singer was a major financial force behind the Rubio-Obama amnesty and immigration expansion push in 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

As\u00a0Politico<\/i>\u00a0reported<\/span><\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0the time, Singer \u201cquietly go[t] involved in the fight for immigration reform, making a six-figure donation\u2026 to the National Immigration Forum\u201d\u2014 a George Soros-backed organization that lobbied for Rubio\u2019s legislation to issue 33 million green cards to foreign nationals in the span of a single decade. The announcement of Singer\u2019s endorsement highlights an intra-party tension that has emerged with new strength since <\/span>Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)<\/b><\/span>\u2019s inauguration as Speaker of the House.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a growing chasm between the more than 9 in 10 GOP voters<\/span><\/a>, who want to see future immigration rates cut, versus GOP donors that are desperately seeking to install leaders in the White House and Congress who will further expand the nation\u2019s already record breaking immigration rates that are transforming the country\u2019s economy and electorate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon the announcement of the Singer\u2019s decision, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump\u00a0tweeted<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

I see Marco Rubio just landed another billionaire to give big money to his Superpac, which are total scams. Marco must address him as \u2018SIR\u2019!<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though Rubio\u2019s donors stand to\u00a0make an enormous profit from a surge of low-wage migrant labor, Rubio has repeatedly denied that his wealthy backers have influenced his agenda.\u00a0\u201cPeople buy into my agenda. I don\u2019t buy into theirs,\u201d Rubio has\u00a0said<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, a review of\u00a0several of Rubio\u2019s top donors reveals that many of them have benefited from the Floridian\u2019s rise to power.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps one of the most widely-criticized areas of Rubio\u2019s campaign pledge to create \u201cA New American Economy\u201d on migrant labor is his support for tripling the\u00a0controversial H-1B visa program<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout his brief time in Washington\u2014noted primarily for pushing the La Raza and Obama-backed amnesty bill through the Senate\u2014Rubio has co-authored two pieces of legislaton that would massively expand the wage-depressing H-1B visa program used to replace American workers in white-collar jobs. His most recent bill\u2014known as I-Squared\u2014would\u00a0triple the number of H-1B visas<\/span><\/a>\u00a0imported into the United States despite the fact that\u00a0the U.S. Census Bureau reports<\/span><\/a> 3 in 4 Americans trained in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) are not employed in those fields.\u00a0The Walt Disney Company used H-1Bs to lay off\u00a0hundreds of American workers<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and forced them to train their low-wage foreign H-1B replacements. Disney\u2019s CEO has endorsed\u00a0Rubio\u2019s I-Squared bill.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump, who has\u00a0called on Disney<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to hire back all of Rubio\u2019s laid-off constituents,\u00a0thundered<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Lobbyists write the rules to benefit the rich and powerful.\u00a0They buy off\u00a0Senators like Marco Rubio to help them get rich at the expense of working Americans by using H-1B visas\u2013so called \u201chigh tech\u201d visas\u2013to replace American workers in all sorts of solid middle class jobs\u2026 Senator Rubio works for the lobbyists, not for Americans.\u00a0That is why he is receiving more money from Silicon Valley than any other candidate in this race.\u00a0He is their puppet.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0open-secrets<\/span><\/a>, Goldman Sachs has been one of Rubio\u2019s biggest financial boosters. Since 2011, Goldman Sachs was the\u00a0top donor<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to Rubio\u2019s campaign committee, contributing $53,200. Interestingly,\u00a0Goldman Sachs is also among the top 50 corporate users of the H-1B visa, which labor experts\u00a0call<\/span><\/a>\u00a0an \u201cindentured servitude\u201d program. According to USCIS data\u00a0analyzed<\/span><\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Computerworld\u2019s\u00a0<\/i>Patrick Thibodeau, Goldman Sachs is the ranked number 33 among the biggest users of\u00a0the program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Behind Goldman Sachs, Microsoft is the\u00a0second largest contributor<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to Rubio\u2019s campaign committee since 2011, donating $33,100. Similarly, Microsoft is the 12th\u00a0biggest user of the H-1B program, having brought in 1,048 foreign workers on H-1Bs in 2013. Last year, Microsoft\u00a0announced<\/span><\/a>\u00a0its plans to lay off 18,000 workers at\u00a0the\u00a0same time the company was lobbying to increase the H-1B program, prompting\u00a0strong condemnation<\/span><\/a>\u00a0from U.S. Senator <\/span>Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)<\/b><\/span>, a top opponent of Rubio\u2019s H-1B expansion plan.<\/p>\n

Morgan Stanley has also been one of Rubio\u2019s top financial contributors\u2014 having\u00a0donated<\/span><\/a>\u00a0$47,564 to Rubio throughout his career. Morgan Stanley is the\u00a0ranked\u00a066th among the biggest H-1B users.<\/span><\/p>\n

Larry Ellison, the founder and executive chairman of\u00a0the\u00a0Oracle Corporation, has been another one of Rubio\u2019s financial boosters.\u00a0In July, the WSJ<\/i>\u00a0reported<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that Ellison\u00a0gave $3 million to the pro-Rubio super PAC. In June, Ellison\u00a0hosted<\/span><\/a>\u00a0a\u00a0\u00a0$2,700 per-person fundraiser for Rubio. Oracle is\u00a0the\u00a020th biggest users of H-1B and has\u00a0endorsed<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Rubio\u2019s Gang of Eight and I-Squared immigration bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond the controversial H-1B expansions, however, critics allege that Rubio\u2019s donors have benefited in other ways from his immigration legislation. For instance, according to\u00a0open-secrets<\/span><\/a>, Carnival Corporation is one of the top 20 contributors to Rubio\u2019s campaign committee since 2011, having donated $14,500.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Section 4606 of the Rubio-Obama immigration bill included a\u00a0\u201cbackroom deal\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that, \u201ccreates a new nonimmigrant Z visa to admit individuals who possess \u2018specialized knowledge\u2019 to perform maintenance on airlines and cruise ships\u201d in place of American labor.\u00a0Rubio\u2019s top immigration lawyer during the Gang of Eight push was Enrique Gonzalez. Prior to working for Rubio, Gonzalez had formerly made his living, in part, by bringing foreign workers into the country on behalf of large corporations.\u00a0Gonzalez had been a\u00a0partner<\/span><\/a>\u00a0at the nation\u2019s largest immigration firm Fragomen, where, as Bloomberg\u00a0reports<\/span><\/a>, \u201che helped\u00a0Carnival, Viacom, and other companies obtain visas for their foreign workers.\u201d Gonzalez features this Bloomberg article on his profile on Fragomen\u2019s website.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet beyond Rubio\u2019s legislative action on immigration, reports document how Rubio\u2019s donors may have shaped many more\u00a0of his policy platforms.<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, according to OpenSecrets, Fanjul Corporation is the\u00a0fourth\u00a0biggest contributor<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to Rubio\u2019s campaign committee since 2011, donating $25,200. The Fanjul family has boosted Rubio throughout his career. As\u00a0Yahoo Finance\u2019s <\/i>Rick Newman\u00a0reports<\/span><\/a>, the Fanjul\u2019s sugar empire \u201cincludes Domino and Florida Crystals\u2026 Donors associated with Florida Crystals have given Rubio at least $81,100 since 2009.\u201d\u00a0The\u00a0Washington Post<\/i>\u00a0has\u00a0described<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Jose \u201cPepe\u201d Fanjul\u00a0as part of Rubio\u2019s \u201cinner circle\u201d: \u201cOver the years, Fanjul has played a key role in raising money for Rubio and introducing him to well-heeled donors.\u201d In April, the Fanjuls\u00a0hosted<\/span><\/a>\u00a0a fundraiser in Palm Beach for Rubio. The cost of attending the reception and lunch was $2,700.\u00a0Rubio\u2019s closeness\u00a0with the\u00a0family has been well-documented, as\u00a0The Daily Caller\u2019s <\/i>Joanne Butler\u00a0<\/i>notes<\/span><\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s been reported that one of the first people Rubio\u00a0greeted\u00a0after making his presidential campaign announcement was Pepe Fanjul, Sr.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Fanjul family benefits from\u00a0the federal government\u2019s policies that protect of the sugar industry.\u00a0The\u00a0Daily Caller<\/i>\u00a0writes<\/span><\/a>\u00a0these protections have come at a cost to Americans:<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Fanjul family has reaped the benefits of a protected sugar industry, other Americans have paid a price in lost jobs\u2026 What we have is a special interest group with lots of political muscle to protect its industry \u2013 to the detriment of 120,000 U.S. jobs\u00a0lost\u00a0over the past fifteen years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Multiple reports have documented how the Fanjuls may have influenced Rubio\u2019s votes. For instance, the\u00a0Washington Post<\/i>\u00a0has\u00a0described<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Rubio\u00a0as a \u201cmajor\u00a0player\u201d and\u00a0one of sugar industry\u2019s \u201cnames to know\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rubio, an outspoken defender of the sugar program\u2026 courted the Fanjul family during his 2010 Senate campaign. In his 2012 memoir, \u201cAn American Son,\u201d Rubio credited a Fanjul fundraiser on Labor Day weekend in 2009 for helping him surpass a critical early fundraising goal. This year, 60 supporters paying $10,000 each gathered on the terrace of Pepe Fanjul\u2019s Palm Beach home to toast Rubio.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fanjuls\u00a0might be considered the First Family of Corporate Welfare\u2026 they benefit from federal policies that compel American consumers to pay artificially high prices for sugar,\u201d says a report<\/span><\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Time Magazine<\/i>\u2019s Donald Bartlett and James Steele.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Rubio\u2019s campaign rhetoric decries corporate welfare, he does not seem to mind it when it comes to the Fanjuls. As the\u00a0Washington Examiner<\/i>\u00a0has\u00a0observed<\/span><\/a>, \u201cIn June 13, 2012, Rubio cast a very odd vote:\u00a0he voted to save the indefensible federal sugar program\u2026 [It\u2019s] relevant that the biggest sugar family in Florida, the Fanjuls, was supporting Rubio early in his long shot Senate race in 2010.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The news of Singer\u2019s endorsement may bring Rubio additional endorsements. Another donor Rubio has actively courted is Sheldon Adelson,\u00a0CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Reports have questioned whether Rubio\u2019s support for Sheldon\u00a0Adelson\u2019s bill to stop Americans from gambling online was intended to woo the GOP megadonor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRubio signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill\u2026 raising eyebrows and prompting questions from reporters,\u201d the Washington Post\u00a0<\/i>wrote<\/span><\/a>. \u201cThe Florida senator has\u00a0assiduously courted the billionaire casino mogul<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly after the news broke that Adelson was considering endorsing Rubio, Trump\u00a0declared<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0\u201cSheldon Adelson is looking to give big dollars to Rubio because he feels he can mold him into his perfect little puppet. I agree!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Adelson stands to\u00a0benefit financially from Rubio\u2019s\u00a0policy of\u00a0expansive immigration as well. Indeed, Nevada has the\u00a0largest share<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of illegal immigrants of any state in the country (4.7 percent), and roughly one in five Nevada residents is\u00a0foreign-born.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In a recent\u00a0piece<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0New York Magazine,\u00a0<\/i>Jonathan Chait writes that Rubio is the candidate best positioned to enact the donor-class agenda. Chait writes: \u201cRubio has carved out a valuable niche in the Republican field as the candidate who will carry out the agenda of the party\u2019s donor base, but who has the identity and communication skills to sell that agenda more effectively.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rush Limbaugh has similarly warned that \u201cthe donor-class push\u201d is to \u201cget rid of Trump, and have Rubio or Jeb win the White House.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Limbaugh predicts that, with Paul Ryan as Speaker and Rubio as President, in the \u201cfirst 12-to-18 months, the donor-class agenda [will be] implemented, including amnesty and whatever else they want.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

___
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