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Amazon, Intel Join Other Major Companies Suspending Donations To Republicans Involved In Biden Certification Challenge

This article is more than 3 years old.
Updated Jan 13, 2021, 12:47pm EST

Topline

In the wake of the U.S. Capitol attacks, scores of major corporations and banks have said they are altering or reviewing the political donations made through their PACs, with many suspending contributions specifically to the Republican members of Congress who challenged the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

Key Facts

Hotel giant Marriott International, the health insurance network Blue Cross Blue Shield and bank holding company Commerce Bancshares were the first to indefinitely suspend donations to members of Congress who objected to the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, as reported Sunday by Popular Information, a political newsletter run by ThinkProgress founder and editor Judd Legum.

All three companies, through their corporate PACs, had donated to at least one of the eight senators involved in the last-minute challenge during the 2020 election cycle: Marriott’s donated $1,000 apiece to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and his leadership PAC, Blue Cross Blue Shield’s donated nearly $12,000 in total to Hawley, Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS), while Commerce Bancshares’ donated $2,500 to Marshall.

CitiBank and JPMorgan Chase & Co., whose PACs donated $1,000 to Hawley and $1,000 to Marshall this cycle, respectively, also confirmed Sunday that they would suspend donations to both parties for the coming months, with a JPMorgan & Chase spokesperson clarifying to Forbes that its pause will last six months.

Dozens of other companies have joined the growing group since: American Airlines, Boston Scientific, BP, Coca Cola, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Hallmark, Hilton Hotels, Kroger, Microsoft and Visa all said they will suspend and review political giving to both parties, while Disney, AirBnb, Amazon, American Express, AT&T, Best Buy, Comcast, Dow, Intel, Mastercard, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Verizon are halting donations to the Republican objectors specifically for either a few months or an indefinite period of time.

In addition to the vows to indefinitely suspend donations, Bank of America and Ford Motor Co. all said they will take recent events into consideration before making future donations, while CVS Health Corp., Exxon Mobil, TMobile, FedEx, Delta and Target and Target said they are reviewing their political giving. 

Tangent

Hallmark has asked Sens. Hawley and Marshall to return past political contributions, saying in a statement sent to Forbes on Monday that their recent actions “do not reflect our company’s values.”

Chief Critic 

“We continuously evaluate our political contributions to ensure that those we support share our values and goals,” wrote the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in a statement to Popular Information. “In light of this week’s violent, shocking assault on the United States Capitol, and the votes of some members of Congress to subvert the results of November’s election by challenging Electoral College results, BCBSA will suspend contributions to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy.”

Crucial Quote 

"We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing political giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against certification of the election," Marriott spokesperson Julie Rollend said in a statement to Forbes.

Key Background 

These donation suspensions come amid mounting criticism—and calls for repercussions—for members of the GOP who chose to vote against Biden’s win even after enraged supporters of President Trump, echoing his claims of voter fraud, stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to halt the process. Hawley has been disavowed by a former mentor, dropped from a publishing contract with Simon & Schuster and asked to resign by the two largest newspapers in Missouri. Other senators have faced calls for resignation from their Senate colleagues and major newspapers.

Further Reading 

“Hallmark Asks Republicans Involved In Challenging Biden’s Win To Return Donations” (Forbes)

“‘Poster Boy Of The Radical Right’: Missouri’s Two Biggest Newspapers Call For Sen. Josh Hawley’s Resignation” (Forbes)

“‘I Don’t Know How You Can Live With Yourself’: Hawley, Cruz Increasingly Shunned After Capitol Attack” (Forbes)

“Three major corporations say they will stop donating to members of Congress who tried to overturn the election” (Popular Information)