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The House and Senate votes last week were a very ugly example of how special interests – in this case, Big Oil – can have a quick and deadly effect. 

Republicans (with four exceptions on the House side) did their bidding and used the Congressional Review Act to eviscerate a rule on extractive industry revenue transparency that is key to fighting corruption and graft. The brutal loss of 10 years of work last week is an opportunity to thank and highlight the leaders on both sides of the aisle who stood with us and voted against Big Oil and against corruption. One-hundred and eighty seven members of the House and forty-seven members of the Senate voted “NAY” on the Joint Resolution to gut the Cardin-Lugar anti-corruption rule, which implements the bipartisan law that requires all oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose the payments they make to governments around the world. The “YAY”s  won out in both the House and the Senate, but we thank  all of the members who have been champions on the issue of transparency in the oil, gas, and mining sector for the past seven years and are counting on your continued support in this new phase of our battle.

It is important to remember that more than 30 other countries including the countries in the European Union, Canada, and Norway have enacted similar laws and the availability of this financial information has led to increased transparency and equal opportunity. Oxfam America and bipartisan Congressional advocates will continue to fight for revenue transparency for the people in resource rich developing countries who continue to work to fight against corruption and work to hold their governments accountable.

In the House, four Republican members voted with us, against the Joint Resolution that favors corrupt kleptocrats and Big Oil over transparency and citizen involvement. Those members were Representative Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,  Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global health, Human Rights and International Organizations, Representative Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA), a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Representative Walter Jones (R-NC) a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee. The strong foreign affairs background of these four members may have contributed to their support for ensuring poor countries can safeguard government revenues from corruption.

In the Senate, all Democratic Senators and two Independents who caucus with Democrats voted against the roll-back of Section 1504.

If any of these members are your elected official, please contact your Senator or Representative and give them your thanks. Here is a full list of the members who voted to stand up to corruption:

House of Representatives:

US Senate: