Reuters
- Walgreens has suspended contributions to the 147 Republican lawmakers who opposed the certification of president-elect Joe Biden.
- The pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer has also reportedly decided to also suspend contributions to those lawmakers for six months.
- The two corporations join Amazon, Marriott, AT&T and others in suspending donations to GOP lawmakers who tried to overturn the election.
- Some corporations are choosing to suspend all political donations instead of to just the senators and representatives who objected to Biden’s certification.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
After the violent pro-Trump riot on Capitol Hill last week, some businesses began cutting ties with President Donald Trump, while some corporations decided to suspend political donations to one or both political parties.
Walgreens and Pfizer are two of the most recent companies to suspend PAC contributions to the 147 Republican lawmakers who opposed the certification of Democrat Joe Biden as the next president.
Walgreens confirmed to Insider on Saturday that it has suspended contributions to the GOP members of congress who voted to overturn the election results.
“Walgreens holds in high regard the role of government and the peaceful transition of power that is core to our democracy. As such, our political action committee suspended contributions to members of Congress who voted to object the certification of U.S. electoral college votes,” Walgreens wrote in a statemen. “As Walgreens continues to deliver the essential testing and vaccinations that will help America end the COVID-19 pandemic, we value the importance of unity as a means for addressing the many challenges we face together as one great nation.”
Pfizer will also reportedly suspend political contributions to the 147 lawmakers who moved to object to Biden's Electoral College victory. The 139 representatives and eight senators continued with a plan to try and overturn the election results even after the deadly siege on the US Capitol by Trump supporters who had been fueled by baseless allegations of voter fraud.
Judd Legum, who writes the political newsletter Popular Information, posted an internal memo from Pfizer on Twitter that says the COVID-19 vaccine-maker was halting donations to the GOP lawmakers for six months. It will review how it will proceed after that time.
Pfizer isn't the only healthcare corporation to pause contributions to the Republican lawmakers. News-site Stat wrote PhRMA, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and American Hospital Association will suspend contributions to those who opposed the certification. Stat notes that initially American Hospital Association announced it would stop all political contributions.
Quartz also lists Pfizer as one of the 33 companies part of S&P 500 "that have stopped PAC contributions to politicians who voted against election certification." The same Quartz story notes that there are 77 companies part of S&P 500 that have stopped all contributions to politicians.
Pfizer did not immediately respond to Insider for comment.
Walgreens and Pfizer join a growing list of corporations who have shared they will stop political contributions to the GOP lawmakers involved in the objection. Other corporations include Amazon, Marriott and Walmart. Some companies, like Microsoft and Facebook, have paused all political donations to both Republicans and Democrats.
The American Bankers Association, the second-biggest PAC donor to the 147 senators and representatives, is one organization that told Insider it is pausing political donations. Insider's Grace Dean wrote it "hasn't announced plans to halt any funding."
AT&T and Comcast who are also big donors to these lawmakers have already said they would halt contributions to those who voted to overturn the results.