Holding Big Money Special Interests Accountable

Americans know our government doesn’t work for most of us. It works for the benefit of the well-off, and well-connected. 

The ultra-wealthy take advantage of tax loopholes that aren’t available to most Americans. The biggest corporations lobby for policies that hurt consumers, workers, and small businesses. And policymakers care more about pleasing the big money special interests that spend billions influencing elections than they do about helping the poor, sick, middle class, women, minorities, or children. 

We need a government that is accountable to The People – not corporations and special interests – if we hope to meet the many complex challenges of the 21st century.

Fighting for a Government that Works for All Americans

The seeds of Accountable.US began forming in 2014 with a small group of progressive activists who saw the need to push back against these big corporations and special interest groups.

In the wake of the Citizens United decision, we knew an unprecedented flood of special interest money was about to inundate our political system, giving even more influence to the rich and powerful, and drowning out the voices of ordinary Americans. 

Big money special interests had been spreading misinformation and controlling the narrative around taxes, regulations, climate change, education, judicial nominations, and plenty of other areas for decades. They had been undermining popular policy ideas to advance their own self-serving agenda without any real pushback – and it was about to get much worse. So we decided to help balance the scales of power and pave the way for policies that benefit all Americans by exposing these networks of power and influence and their true motives.

The Unique Threat of Donald Trump 

Recognizing Donald Trump as a unique threat to our democratic institutions from the very beginning, our focus shifted during the Trump Presidency to calling out the conflicts of interest, corruption, and self-dealing going on in his administration. Among other things, our work led to several cabinet nominees withdrawing their names from consideration, and a sitting cabinet secretary’s resignation. 

When Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, we knew that some of these threats would diminish, but others would become even more dangerous. January 6 confirmed our suspicions, and caused us to turn our attention to the lawmakers who voted to overturn the results of the election, the corporations that said they valued democracy and then made political contributions to those lawmakers, and the special interest groups and their donors who undermined democracy by peddling disinformation and conspiracy theories about massive voter and election fraud that never happened.

Balancing the Scales of Power 

In addition to our work holding politicians, corporations, and special interests accountable for undermining democracy and spreading the Big Lie, Accountable.US has renewed our focus on policymakers and special interest groups pushing the radical MAGA Republican agenda. By exposing their networks of power and influence with our investigative research, we are fighting back against an agenda that would roll back rights, harm workers and consumers, and damage our environment for future generations. In doing so, we are creating the space for you – our allies – to push for policies that benefit all Americans. 

As part of our effort to reach more Americans with the truth about the corporate leaders, wealthy donors and government officials working against their interests, we have rebranded and relaunched our website, and are looking forward to bringing you even more original content and hard-hitting research. Together, we can hold bad actors accountable, and create positive change.