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related: _Susan Collins Master Profile · The Wall Street-Schumer Funding Axis
donors: Stephen Schwarzman
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The Schwarzman Connection and Private Equity Capture
Money
Steve Schwarzman — Blackstone CEO, $40 billion net worth — donated $2 million to Collins’s super PAC (Pine Tree Results) on June 27, 2017. On June 28, 2017, Collins cast the deciding vote to advance Trump’s tax bill to the Senate floor (51-49). Collins had initially proposed an amendment to close the carried interest loophole that lets private equity managers pay capital gains rates (20%) instead of income rates (37%). She dropped the amendment. The $2 million and the dropped amendment occurred within 24 hours of each other. Collins’s office denied a quid pro quo. The timeline speaks for itself.
The Private Equity Numbers
Collins received $500,000+ from the private equity industry in the 2020 cycle alone — more than any other senator. The private equity donor network centers on one interest: preserving the carried interest loophole, which saves the industry ~$18 billion per decade in avoided taxes.
| Date | Event | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-06-27 | Steve Schwarzman (Blackstone CEO) donates to Susan Collins’s super PAC (Pine Tree Results) | $2,000,000 | FEC filings |
| 2017-06-28 | Susan Collins casts deciding vote (51-49) to advance Trump tax bill to Senate floor | — | Senate voting records |
| 2017-06-27 | Collins had proposed carried interest loophole amendment to tax bill (exact date pending) | — | Congressional records |
| 2017-06-28 | Collins drops carried interest loophole amendment after Schwarzman donation (exact date pending) | — | Congressional records |
| 2017-12-22 | Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law with carried interest loophole intact | — | Government records |
| 2020-01-01 | Private equity industry donates to Collins 2020 re-election campaign (exact dates pending) | $500,000+ | FEC filings |
| 1980-2017 | Collins receives securities and investment industry contributions over career (exact dates pending) | $1,029,000+ | FEC filings |
| 2020-01-01 | American Bankers Association funds ads supporting Collins (exact dates pending) | $100,000+ | Political ad disclosure |
What Private Equity Got
The carried interest loophole survived. Collins proposed closing it. Then Schwarzman gave $2M. Then Collins dropped the amendment. The tax bill passed with the loophole intact. Private equity managers continue paying 20% on income that would otherwise be taxed at 37%.
Calculation: On $100 million in carried interest income, the loophole saves $17 million in taxes. Schwarzman’s $2 million “donation” generated returns measured in billions — not for Schwarzman personally (his portfolio is diversified), but for the private equity industry whose tax treatment Collins was positioned to change and chose not to.
Contradiction
Collins is the Senate’s self-styled “moderate” who “carefully considers every vote.” The Schwarzman timeline — $2M donation on June 27, deciding vote on June 28, carried interest amendment dropped — is the most compressed donor-to-vote sequence in recent Senate history. The “careful consideration” yielded the exact outcome Schwarzman’s $2M was designed to produce. Collins didn’t sell her vote. She rented her amendment.
Sources
- Common Dreams: Susan Collins Advanced Trump Tax Bill After Receiving $2 Million from Private Equity Billionaire (Tier 2)
- Rolling Stone: Susan Collins Raked in Wall Street Cash Before Advancing Trump Tax Bill (Tier 2)
- ProPublica: Susan Collins Backed Down From a Fight With Private Equity. Now They’re Underwriting Her Reelection. (Tier 2)
- Jacobin: GOP Sen. Susan Collins Has a Close Friend in Billionaire Steve Schwarzman (Tier 2)