Another Obamacare repeal bill is dead, and wealthy conservative donors aren’t happy.

On Tuesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) canned a Senate vote on health care legislation drafted by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

“It still lies ahead of us,” McConnell told reporters. Just not this week.

The legislation was tabled a day after protests on Capitol Hill, a concerning Congressional Budget Office report, and more importantly, a critical third Republican Senator – Sen. Susan Collins of Maine – rejected the bill, which was universally opposed by the health care industry and patient groups, according to The New York Times.

The failed repeal bill is another blow to Senate Republicans, who have struggled to fulfill a near-decade-long campaign pledge to their hardline conservative voters.

For the Koch brothers’ byzantine network of largely anonymous donors, who spent umpteen millions to win a Republican-controlled Congress, it’s a blown investment. Now they want results.

“Get Obamacare repealed and replaced, get tax reform passed,” Doug Deason, one of the few known donors in the Koch network’s fundraising rolodex, told GOP leaders recently. “You control the Senate. You control the House. You have the presidency. There’s no reason you can’t get this done.”

Deason spoke to reporters in June during an annual donor “summit” hosted by the Koch brothers, in which attendees pledged $100,000 in support of the network’s political activities and discussed their legislative wish-lists with the honored guests – members of Congress, many of whom will benefit from those six-figure checks.

Deason’s ties to the Koch network is a rarity: The dark money network masks its donors and donations in a shell game of disappearing money shared by tax-exempt corporations, limited liability companies and politically active nonprofits, which work to shield the identities of donors in IRS and FEC filings. The undisclosed money is then spent on ads supporting Republican candidates.

Americans for Prosperity and the Freedom Partners super PAC are the de-facto faces of the Koch network and the largest sources of reported outside spending.

Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the nondisclosing arm of the similarly named super PAC, is the main financial hub of donor network. It does not spend as much on ads and voter outreach, but it funds most of the groups that do.

The Freedom Partners Action Fund has spent $53 million on outside spending for Republican candidates since its founding in 2014 – or about half of the Koch network’s $106 million in reported spending on congressional races.

Koch-network spending since 2008 Freedom Partners Action Fund $53.1 million Americans For Prosperity $19.8 million American Future Fund $19.6 million 60 Plus Assn $9.2 million American Commitment $1.9 million Americans for Responsible Leadership $993,564 American Energy Alliance $485,307 Concerned Women for America Legislative Action $405,350 Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce $296,005 Citizen Awareness Project $9,493 Total $105.9 million

In June, the Koch network announced plans to spend up to $400 million in the 2018 cycle on policy objectives, including its two major legislative goals — repealing Obamacare and revising the tax code. That $400 million, in a midterm election, rivals the amount the network poured into the presidential election of 2012.

Obamacare repeal has failed so far, and the natives are getting restless.

Help us keep government accountable by making a donation today.

After a Senate repeal bill failed in July with the help of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s thumb, Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips went Trumpian Twitter-shaming on Republican defectors.

6 GOP Sens who voted FOR ObamaCare repeal in 2015 knowing Obama would veto voted AGAINST repeal today knowing Trump would sign. #hypocrites — Tim Phillips (@TimPhillipsAFP) July 27, 2017

Americans for Prosperity lobbied senators this summer on health care legislation and previously demanded a comprehensive Obamacare repeal bill from House Republicans.

At the June retreat in Colorado Springs, Deason said he and other big-donor Texans are fed up and have stopped hosting high-dollar fundraisers until Republicans make good on the money.

“I said, ‘No I’m not going to because we’re closing the checkbook until you get some things done,’” Deason said.

While the majority of Koch-network donors are concealed through IRS and FEC loopholes, the public has more insight into where the money ends up, however.

The so-called Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson health care proposal was trumpeted by four senators, including three whose campaigns benefited from Koch-group spending, according to FEC data reviewed by the OpenSecrets Blog.

Since 2008, at least five Koch groups spent $8.4 million on reported outside spending on behalf of Sens. Bill Cassidy, Ron Johnson and Dean Heller. (Sen. Lindsey Graham did not appear in the data)

Koch-network spending on behalf of Graham-Cassidy bill sponsors since 2008 Freedom Partners Action Fund $4.8 million Americans For Prosperity $2.2 million American Future Fund $1.4 million Americans for Responsible Leadership $53,272 60 Plus Association $1,783 Total $8.4 million

The failure to pass major legislation has alienated the Koch network and perhaps trickled down to the party’s traditional fundraisers, specifically the Republican National Senatorial Committee (RNSC).

In early May, Senate Republicans announced plans to draft an Obamacare repeal bill, which eventually died on a 49-51 vote Senate vote in late July.

Contributions reported by the RNSC have plummeted since March, specifically after the Senate’s failed repeal vote in July, according to FEC filings.

In March, the Republican National Senatorial Committee raised $7 million in March ahead of the 2018 midterm election. In August, RNSC receipts fell to about $3 million.

Donations to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2017 August $2.1 million July $2.1 million June $4.8 million May $3.0 million April $3.8 million March $7.0 million February $5.1 million January $4.2 million

During the first year of an election cycle, contributions to the RNSC usually dip in late summer — but not so dramatically. Over the same period in the 2014 midterm, RNSC raised $3.2 million in March and $1.9 million in August; in the 2010 midterms, the split was $4.9 million to $3.1 million.

Repealing health care isn’t the only priority of conservative dark money, however, and Republicans have turned quickly to a savoir – revising the tax code – with the eyes of deep-pocketed donors waiting and watching.



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]





Support Accountability Journalism At OpenSecrets.org we offer in-depth, money-in-politics stories in the public interest. Whether you’re reading about 2020 presidential fundraising, conflicts of interest or “dark money” influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. Every donation we receive from users like you goes directly into promoting high-quality data analysis and investigative journalism that you can trust.Please support our work and keep this resource free. Thank you. Support OpenSecrets ➜