While the Senate Indian Affairs Committee has issued subpoenas and conducted an investigation into Jack Abramoff’s dirty dealings with his tribal clients, House Resources Chairman Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) has decided to do nothing. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), a member of the Resources committee that has sole jurisidiction over the Marianas, has continually petitioned Pombo for an investigation, to no avail.

The Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association and the Northern Mariana Islands hired Abramoff in 2001 “to stop legislation aimed at cracking down on sweatshops and sex shops” on the islands. In 2001, the association paid Abramoff $460,000 and the Islands paid him $1.1 million. He used these fees to cultivate ties to members of Congress, flying dozens of lawmakers and their aides for luxurious vacations. Abramoff is being investigated for bilking the islands out of money.

One explanation as to why Pombo isn’t investigating: “Pombo has received more than $35,000 in contributions from Abramoff and Indian tribes he represented.”

[Guest blogger and American Progress senior fellow Gene Sperling was President Clinton's National Economic Adviser.]

In the drive to make cutting taxes on dividend income a top national priority, the White House and their allies in Congress hope to obscure how regressive the cut is (in 2005 nearly 80% of the capital gains and dividend tax cuts went to those making over $200,000) with the self-assured assertions that it has: 1. lifted the stock market, 2. driven job and wage growth, and 3. helped the small investor.

All of these claims are off the mark — but I’m going to debunk each assertion one at a time over the next few posts.

Claim 1: The dividend tax cut has led to a stronger stock market. (A brief aside: the fact that a policy might increase the price of certain stocks, or even the stock market as a whole, does not end the discussion of whether or not it is a sound idea. One could provide a $1000 rebate and a toaster to every investor who purchased stock and probably drive up the market, but it would hardly increase our overall national economic well-being. The wisest economic policies focus on strengthening the underlying foundations for economic growth and productivity – not immediate market impacts).

A new study by economists at the Federal Reserve Board found no evidence that the dividend tax cut raised stock market prices as a whole. They didn’t even find much evidence that it raised the prices of dividend-paying stocks. Read more