Vul­ner­a­ble Sen­ate Democ­rats take cash from ‘shrink­fla­tion’ donors

Sen­ate Democ­rats fac­ing tough reelec­tion chal­lenges in 2024 accept reg­u­lar checks from the same cor­po­ra­tions they have accused of prof­it­ing off reduc­ing prod­uct sizes, or “shrink­fla­tion,” records show.
In order to com­bat GOP-led attacks on ris­ing infla­tion under Pres­i­dent Joe Biden, Democ­rats have sought to cast blame on pri­vate com­pa­nies, which law­mak­ers, includ­ing Sens. Tam­my Bald­win (D‑WI), Bob Casey (D‑PA), and Sher­rod Brown (D‑OH), say are respon­si­ble for pack­age down­siz­ing. Anti-cor­po­rate rhetoric hasn’t stopped that trio from tak­ing dona­tions between 2010 and 2024 from boat­loads of polit­i­cal action com­mit­tees tied to cor­po­ra­tions, includ­ing Coca-Cola, Pep­si­Co, Gen­er­al Mills, Wal­mart, Proc­ter & Gam­ble, and Mon­delez Inter­na­tion­al, accord­ing to doc­u­ments on file with the Fed­er­al Elec­tion Com­mis­sion.
“It’s a reflec­tion of our bro­ken sys­tem of financ­ing cam­paigns,” Craig Hol­man, a lob­by­ist on ethics issues for the left-wing Pub­lic Cit­i­zen think tank, told the Wash­ing­ton Exam­in­er. “As long as we’re going to allow priv …