President Obama on Friday will speak at a fundraiser hosted by climate-change activist Tom Steyer, a vocal opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline and a prominent supporter of Democratic donors in his home state of California and national Democratic candidates.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is also expected to attend the San Francisco fundraiser.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said he believes Steyer sought to host Obama because of their common interests in environmental issues.
“Mr. Steyer is a well-known advocate for policies that are good for the environment, particularly policies that will limit carbon pollution and other contributors to climate change, and obviously the president has an exceedingly strong record, maybe even a historically strong record in confronting those issues,” Earnest said.
“You would have to talk to Mr. Steyer to find out exactly why he decided to host the president, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was related to the president’s very strong record of trying to cut carbon pollution and putting in place policies that will be in the best interest of our economy and best interests of our planet,” he added.
Steyer, a billionaire and major Democratic donor, is urging Democratic candidates to address the issue of income-inequality in the country and is advocating for a change to U.S. tax code that allows wealthy private equity managers and venture capitalists to be taxed at a lower rate than some average Americans.
Earnest readily acknowledged that Steyer and Obama share the goal of closing unfair tax loopholes, which he said “only benefit the wealthy and well-connected.”
Obama believes that money instead should be used “on the kinds of things that benefit everybody — whether it’s free community college or expanded early childhood education or even important investments in our infrastructure,” Earnest said.
