Now Crony Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro Introduced a Federal Tax on Sugary Drinks

Just because Rep. Rosa DeLauro — a Democrat from New Haven, Connecticut who hangs out with bff Nancy Pelosi — dresses like someone’s crazy hipster grandma (yeah, I said it, see below and here and here to get the picture), doesn’t mean the lady is ignorant. Far from it.

(Image via CQRollCall.com)

In fact, through the magic of Washington cronyism, DeLauro is worth about $20 million.

Part of this is wealth is gained through her husband Stan Greenberg’s consultant firm, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, which has a client list replete with politicians and mega corporations. His multi-million dollar contracts include advising the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, of which his wife DeLauro just so happens to be a steering committee member. In other words, when DeLauro’s campaign gives large sums in the hundreds of thousands to the DCCC, the committee then turns around and pays her husband for his services. (You can find a breakdown of the numbers on this here.)

See how that works? And that’s just one example.

As Truthstream Media has reported before, the situation with Rep. DeLauro and her hubby takes the phrase “conflict of interest” to a whole new, crony low. She out to make bank. There’s even a Facebook page dedicated to her crony ways. It’s that bad.

So when I read that Rep. DeLauro was introducing a federal tax on sugary drinks, my very first thought (sadly) was: “How much does she and her husband stand to financially gain from this?”

The act, which she calls the SWEET Act, would institute an excise tax of 1 cent per teaspoon of caloric sweetener in sugary beverages, and yes, high fructose corn syrup is included. At first, this would raise the price on a can of soda by nine cents, but after December 2015, the price begins adjusting for inflation. Funds generated through the tax would be transferred to the Prevention and Public Health Fund created under Obamacare.

This tax is supposed to fight type-II diabetes, obesity and cavities. You know, it’s the government protecting you from yourself, for your health. Instead of limiting the amount of genetically modified high fructose corn syrup that’s found in practically everything (because it’s government subsidized and therefore cheap and abundant), mega corporations are going to continue putting it in everything, then charge you the consumer more for it.

Despite the fact that baby formula is made primarily of corn syrup, it is exempt from the tax, even though research has shown that feeding a baby formula actually sets the kid up to get type-II diabetes, obesity and other health problems later in life, the prime focus of the act. Go figure.

And because the beverages to be taxed are limited to “caloric sweeteners” only, DeLauro is completely ignoring the vast swath of research that shows diet beverages with chemical non-caloric sweeteners like the excitotoxin aspartame actually cause even more type-II diabetes diagnoses than sugar-sweetened drinks do.

Soda isn’t healthy and people shouldn’t drink it, but that’s not the point. There are a lot of things that aren’t healthy that the government doesn’t tax, and besides, the government’s ability to “tax us healthy” is obviously a myth anyway.

So, how much does DeLauro stand to profit from this? It’s a fair question to ask.

After all, Coca-Cola, a bastion of sugary drinks, is on her husband’s client list, and it’s been reported that Monsanto, the Biotech king of genetically modified corn that gets processed into all that high fructose corn syrup, is a client as well.

Don’t forget, this woman also introduced the 100% biotech-friendly Food & Safety Modernization Act of 2009, so the focus on health…just doesn’t even begin past the smell test.

Here she is addressing the second National Soda Summit regarding the SWEET Act:

And here’s the top comment below it:

(H/T Omar Adams)