LOBBYISTS DEFEATED ‘CARRIED INTEREST’ REFORM
“Lobbyists knew that, with the [2010] mid-term election season looming, there
was little time to get a controversial bill passed, and that sixty votes were re-
quired to overcome an inevitable Republican filibuster. ‘You'd see lobbyists
raising technical issues with Democratic staffers,’ Lily Batchelder, then the
Democratic chief tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee, told me. ‘It takes
some time to educate staff members and educate their bosses that such issues are mostly
was little time to get a controversial bill passed, and that sixty votes were re-
quired to overcome an inevitable Republican filibuster. ‘You'd see lobbyists
raising technical issues with Democratic staffers,’ Lily Batchelder, then the
Democratic chief tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee, told me. ‘It takes
some time to educate staff members and educate their bosses that such issues are mostly
smoke and
mirrors’ - techniques meant to stall the bill.
“By June [2010], the legislation had been weakened to the point that many
ambivalent Democrats were mollified. But there were still holdouts, including
Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, and the few moderate Republicans in the chamber –
ambivalent Democrats were mollified. But there were still holdouts, including
Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, and the few moderate Republicans in the chamber –
Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, of Maine, and Scott Brown, who had received heavy
Wall Street backing in his recent election. The former senior Senate aide told me,
‘Every time we'd do a whip count, we got to fifty-seven, fifty-eight. We never quite got to sixty.’"
Wall Street backing in his recent election. The former senior Senate aide told me,
‘Every time we'd do a whip count, we got to fifty-seven, fifty-eight. We never quite got to sixty.’"
. . . . . . . . . . . .
“On June 30th
[2010], in the last of several
votes, the package came up three votes
short. In the end, [Lily] Batchelder says, the private-equity lobbyists ‘ran out the
clock.’ Since 2010, when Republican retook control of Congress, prospects for
closing the loophole have not revived.”
short. In the end, [Lily] Batchelder says, the private-equity lobbyists ‘ran out the
clock.’ Since 2010, when Republican retook control of Congress, prospects for
closing the loophole have not revived.”
Alec MacGillis, “The Billionaires’ Loophole,” New Yorker,
March 14, 2016, pp: 64-73.
