Sunlight Foundation

Issues by Topic

• Citizens United v. FEC

  The Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case rendered 24 state election laws unconstitutional. The 5-4 ruling in favor of Citizens United reversed a provision of the McCain-Feingold act that prohibited any electioneering communication - defined as advertising via broadcast, cable or satellite that is paid for by corporations or labor unions.

  View TV, Reporting, Editorials and Sunlight's Position on Citizens United v. FEC

• Congressional Research Service (CRS)

  The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a nonpartisan service that provides Congress with exclusive reports on a wide range of issues and is often called the 'think tank' of Congress.

  View Editorials, Reporting, Projects and Sunlight's Position on Congressional Research Service (CRS)

• Data Visualizations

  To better illustrate complex information or explain relationships, the Sunlight Foundation is continuously designing graphics to assist the public. Here are a few examples:

  View Projects on Data Visualizations

• Earmarks

  While earmarks account for a very small portion of the total discretionary spending budget, they are linked to a high number of congressional scandals. Transparency in earmark spending is necessary to ensure an accountable government.

  View Editorials, Reporting, Sunlight's Position, TV, Projects and Articles on Earmarks

• Electronic Filing (e-Filing)

  Electronic Filing (or e-Filing) refers to the long-sought Sunlight goal to streamline the campaign finance disclosure process through online access to information.

  View Reporting, Editorials and Sunlight's Position on Electronic Filing (e-Filing)

• Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Transparency

  The Sunlight Foundation advocates for the FCC to make political information available online for all stations.

  View Reporting, Editorials, Sunlight's Position and Articles on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Transparency

• Financial Industry Reporting

  The Sunlight Foundation has a number of tools and ongoing reporting on the financial industry and its strong presence in politics.

  View Reporting, Projects and Articles on Financial Industry Reporting

• Influence in Food Marketing Policy

  The Sunlight Foundation tracks the influence of major political players and recent changes in federal food policy that are shaped by long lobbying campaigns.

  View Reporting, Editorials and Articles on Influence in Food Marketing Policy

• Lobbying

  Information about lobbying - the who, what and how of influence peddling - should be available online in real-time. Better lobbyist disclosure will let Americans who is trying to shape public policy and at what price. It will also increase public confidence in the integrity of government. Current disclosure rules fail in both regards.

  View Reporting, Projects and Sunlight's Position on Lobbying

• Model Legislation Tracking

  Many interest groups distribute model legislation to get communities to adopt their policy initiatives from the U.S. Congress down to statehouses. This type of influence is very difficult to track as legislation does not include information about those who contributed text.

  View Reporting, Projects and Articles on Model Legislation Tracking

• National Data Apps

  The Sunlight Foundation is building a series of platforms and tools for delivering federal data to the public known as National Data Apps. The collection is generously funded by the Knight Foundation and our challenge is to model how government data can be used in new and beneficial ways.

  View Projects and Articles on National Data Apps

• Save the Data Campaign

  During the budget debate in 2011, the Sunlight Foundation discovered that major cuts were being proposed for Electronic Government Fund - the crucial backbone of many transparency and accountability programs. Data.gov, USASpending.gov, the IT Dashboard and other federal data transparency and government accountability programs faced a cut from their previous $34 million level to just $2 million, despite only being a tiny fraction of the national budget.

  View Reporting, Editorials, Sunlight's Position and Articles on Save the Data Campaign

• Sunshine Week

  Sunshine Week is a national initiative that began in 2005 to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. It occurs in mid-March and coincides with the birthday of James Madison and the Freedom of Information Day.

  View Reporting, Projects and Sunlight's Position on Sunshine Week

• Super Committee

  The “Budget Control Act” legislation created a Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction of 12 members of Congress (nicknamed the “Super Committee”), who have been given the enormous power to suggest how to cut at least $1.2 trillion dollars from the national debt.

  View TV, Editorials, Sunlight's Position and Articles on Super Committee

• The 72 Hour Rule and Read the Bill Movement

  The 72 Hour Rule is an idea championed by the Sunlight Foundation that calls on legislation to be available to the public online for 72 hours prior to a final vote in the House or Senate.

  View TV, Reporting, Editorials and Projects on The 72 Hour Rule and Read the Bill Movement