American Pauses Political Donations After Attack on Capitol
American Airlines has joined numerous other companies who were horrified enough by last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol to halt their political donations.
The airline has begun a three-month pause on making contributions no matter which party it is, the carrier announced.
“When we resume, we will ensure we focus on a bipartisan array of lawmakers who support U.S. aviation, airline workers and our values, including bringing people together,” American Airlines spokeswoman Stacy Day said, according to Travel Weekly.
American is only the latest big-name business to get out of the political donation game, however brief it might be.
The decisions come less than a week after the ugly scene where supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol – angry over what they believed was a fraudulent election that propelled Joe Biden the presidency and spurred on by President Trump’s words at a rally earlier in the day – and tried to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College. Five people died, including a Capitol police officer.
The reaction was immediate. According to Bloomberg News Service, the number of companies who announced they are either withholding political contributions or asking for a return of donations from any Republican lawmaker or a return of contributions from any objector in general, is staggering.
The list includes Hallmark Cards, Airbnb, Amazon, American Express, AT&T, Best Buy, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Dow Chemicals, Edison International, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Intel, Marriott, MasterCard, Verizon, 3M, Comcast, Archer-Daniels-Midland, BlackRock, BP, CitiGroup, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Ford Motor Co., Hilton Hotels, JPMorganChase, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley and UPS, among others.
Truly a list of heavy hitters among U.S. businesses.
American Airlines has generally been pretty even when making political donations. Travel Weekly noted that according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the American Airlines Political Action Committee spent $771,000 in this election cycle. American donated $492,000 to federal political candidates, with 52 percent of that money going to Republican candidates and 48 percent going to Democrats.
American also donated $158,000 to political PACs, including $105,000 to Republican PACs and $53,000 to Democratic PACs.