Jim McCrery

James O. McCrery, III was a Republican member of the U. S. House of Representatives representing the 4th District of Louisiana from 1989-2008. (map) McCrery has been a frontline lobbyist for General Electric (GE) on "deferral of overseas income, bank tax, corporate tax and tax reform."

Ties to Pete Peterson's "Fix the Debt"
The Campaign to Fix the Debt is the latest incarnation of a decades-long effort by former Nixon man turned Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson to slash earned benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare under the guise of fixing the nation's "debt problem."

McCrery is on the steering committee of the Campaign to Fix the Debt along with Sam Nunn, longtime chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who has been a member of GE’s board of directors since 1997. GE chairman and CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt is also on Fix the Debt’s CEO Council.

This article is part of the Center for Media and Democracy's investigation of Pete Peterson's Campaign to "Fix the Debt." Please visit our main SourceWatch page on Fix the Debt.

Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest
McCrery has been a frontline lobbyist for General Electric (GE) on "deferral of overseas income, bank tax, corporate tax and tax reform." GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt is on Fix the Debt's CEO Council, and Sam Nunn (see below) has been a member of GE's board of directors since 1997. McCrery's Capitol Counsel LLC lobbying group was paid $150,000 by GE to lobby on deferral of overseas income, bank tax, corporate tax, and tax reform in the third quarter of 2012, just as Fix the Debt was taking off. Capitol Counsel was paid an additional $420,000 in 2011 and 2012 to lobby for corporate tax repatriation legislation by the so-called Win America Campaign, a corporate lobbying group of Fortune 500 high tech, pharma and energy companies (including Microsoft, Pfizer and Oracle) that is pushing for a tax holiday on over $1 trillion in foreign profits. Capital Counsel also lobbied on behalf of many other corporations and organizations on budget-related matters including: Blue Cross Blue Shield -- taxation of Blue Cross organizations and of health and life insurers; CIT Group -- financial services and tax issues; Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold -- tax reform; Reynolds American -- tax proposals on tobacco industry; PhRMA -- pharmaceutical tax and health care; and Rio Tinto Group -- tax reform. In addition, McCrery has lobbied for the Alliance for Savings and Investment, the American Bankers Association, American Health Care Association, American Petroleum Institute, Caesar's Entertainment, Cardinal Health, Chevron, Geo Care (privatized prison healthcare), Hilton, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Pete Peterson's Blackstone Group, W.R. Berkley (see above) and Walmart. None of these extensive corporate ties and interests are disclosed in his Fix the Debt biography.

Iraq War
McCrery voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.

Environmental Record
For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Advocate Article
In 1992, the Advocate magazine, a publication aimed at the gay and lesbian community, featured a cover story on McCrery that quoted a Dallas teacher. The teacher claimed he formerly had a relationship with McCrery and accused him of pandering to his conservative constituents by opposing gay rights. The magazine cited his support of anti-gay legislation as justification of his outing.

The article did little damage to his political career, and McCrery denied allegations made during the 1988 and 1992 campaigns that he is a homosexual.

2006 Elections
In 2006, McCrery won reelection, garnering 58% of the vote, compared to the 17% of his closest competitor. 

2008 Retirement
McCrery announced in a statement on December 7, 2007 he would not seek re-election in 2008. The ten-term congressman reportedly thought of not seeking reelection in 2004 because of family reasons. However, he did seek another term after he sold his Louisiana house and moved his family to the Washington, D.C. area. In June 2007 he announced that he planned to move his family back to Shreveport, Louisiana.

In the statement, McCrery explained his decision to retire as his inability to chair the House Ways and Means Committee and the time spent in Washington away from his family. McCrery explained, "Chairman (Charles) Rangel (D-N.Y.) and I have developed a very good working relationship and we have had some success in developing bipartisan solutions, specifically in the area of trade. But on tax reform, Medicare and healthcare reform, and Social Security reform, our best efforts have come to naught."

Reps. Wally Herger (R-Calif.) and David Camp (R-Mich.) are the next Republicans in the seniority in the Ways and means Committee. McCrery had over $960,000 on hand in his personal savings account and over $323,000 in his PAC.

Money in Politics
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Committee assignments in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)

 * House Committee on Ways and Means -Ranking

Committee Assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * House Committee on Ways and Means
 * Subcommittee on Health
 * Subcommittee on Human Resources
 * Subcommittee on Social Security - Chair


 * The Republican Main Street Partnership

Early Life
McCrery was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on September 18, 1949. He was educated at Louisiana State University and was a lawyer and staff member for Representative Buddy Roemer before entering the House.

According to USA Today, "McCrery boast[ed] a role in shaping President Bush's tax cut bills and a measure granting prescription drug benefits for seniors... McCrery opposes abortion and supported the death penalty... The liberal Americans for Democratic Action gave McCrery's 2003 voting record 5 points out of 100; the American Conservative Union gave him 88 points."

Featured SourceWatch Articles on Fix the Debt

 * Fix the Debt Portal Page
 * Fix the Debt's Leadership
 * Fix the Debt's Partner Groups
 * Fix the Debt's State Chapters
 * Fix the Debt's Lobbyists
 * Fix the Debt's Parent Group
 * Fix the Debt's Corporations
 * Pete Peterson
 * Peter G. Peterson Foundation
 * America Speaks
 * Simpson-Bowles Commission
 * Erskine Bowles
 * Alan Simpson
 * Social Security
 * Medicare
 * Medicaid

Other Related SourceWatch Articles

 * General Electric

External Resources

 * Jim McCrery from Issues 2000
 * Links to articles and blogs about Jim McCrery from Campaign for America's Future

External Articles

 * McCrery is Top Spender on Corporate Travel by Michael Forsythe and Kristin Jensen, Bloomberg, 10/10/05