A low-profile group funded by Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros appears to be working hand-in-glove with the Biden administration to upend policies enacted during the administration of former President Donald Trump, according to a new report.
The group is called Governing for Impact, and it claims to have helped bring to life more than 20 of its regulatory policy positions, according to Fox News.
Although the group is secretive to the point of issuing no news releases and having a website Fox News said was only discoverable to those who knew the address, it has been the recipient of more than $12 million from the Soros-backed Open Society Foundations.
Fox said that the $12.98 million the group received in 2019 and 2020 came in two chunks — $5.53 million from the Foundation to Promote Open Society and $7.45 million from the Open Society Policy Center, which sent the money to GFI’s action fund.
“Open Society is proud to support Governing for Impact’s efforts to protect American workers, consumers, patients, students and the environment through policy reform,” Tom Perriello, executive director of Soros’ Open Society Foundations, told Fox.
“Their work gives voice to people often overlooked in a regulatory environment too often dominated by corporate interests,” he said. “Our support for Governing for Impact’s work is publicly available on our website and we are transparent about our enthusiasm for their victories for American workers and families.”
The group has proposed a wide range of recommendations, such as an eight-point plan it claimed would push back against Trump administration policies concerning LGBTQ students.
The group also wants the Department of Housing and Urban Development to change rules it claims discriminate against transgender individuals in homeless shelters.
Many of its policy recommendations stem from late 2020 — after President Joe Biden had been elected.
Some say the group is part of what is wrong with the influence of money in politics.
“Governing for Impact is the perfect example of the Left’s fake outrage over ‘dark money’ in politics,” said Parker Thayer of the Capital Research Center.
“As a ‘fiscally sponsored’ dark money project that writes and pushes regulations from the shadows, hidden from the public and funded by one billionaire foundation, GFI embodies everything the Left pretends to abhor,” he said.
Governing for Impact is managed through the New Venture Fund, which in turn is managed by the consulting firm Arabella Advisors. This arrangement means Governing for Impact does not need to file tax returns that would show where its money goes.
An internal slide deck viewed by Fox News said more than 20 of its proposals had been implemented as of 2021.
Multiple federal officials appear in those slides, Fox reported. Among them was Sharon Block, who from January 2021 until February was administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a part of the Office of Management and Budget.
In the feedback section of one slide, Block said, “I’m jumping out of my seat with excitement about this idea.”
The group also had close ties with Soros’ Open Society Foundations.
Perriello, the foundation’s executive director, is a member of Governing for Impact’s four-person board.
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