The Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources is currently holding a hearing into responses to the Gulf oil spill with Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar testifying. From 2005-2010, the oil and gas industry has contributed over $2.3 million to current members of the committee, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The current leading recipient of oil and gas campaign contributions on the committee is Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., a strong proponent of offshore drilling. Landrieu has received $363,950 from the oil and gas industry over the last five years. In the wake of the Gulf oil spill that is washing ashore in her state, Landrieu firmly backed offshore drilling as key to America's energy future and vital to Louisiana's economy. She has also called for a compromise in raising the liability cap for companies involved in oil spills. The cap is currently set at $75 million.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., is second highest recipient of oil and gas money on the committee with $311,750. Lincoln has been a proponent of offshore drilling for some time, praising President Obama's March decision to expand offshore drilling. Since the Gulf oil spill happened, Lincoln has remained quiet on whether a moratorium should be reenacted and has focused on expressing concern over BP's practices.

The oil spill became an issue in the waning days of the primary campaign between Lincoln and Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. The League of Conservation Voters released an advertisement critical of Lincoln for the oil and gas contributions she has received and for her previous votes in favor of oil company tax breaks. Despite the advertising, Lincoln won what many consider a surprise victory over Halter last night.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is another top recipient on the committee with $225,326. Murkowski, whose state is reliant on the oil and gas industry, has been the biggest defender of the industry in the weeks since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sunk causing the massive Gulf oil spill. When the Senate sought to pass legislation raising the liability cap on oil companies, Murkowski blocked consideration of the bill to raise the cap from $75 million to $10 billion.

Below are oil and gas contributions to the full committee:

Oil & Gas Contributions to the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee (2005-2010)
Mary Landrieu	$363,950
Blanche Lincoln	$311,750
Bob Corker	$276,700
Lisa Murkowski (ranking member)	$225,326
John Barrasso	$167,500
Robert Bennett	$152,400
Richard Burr	$114,950
Byron Dorgan	$103,950
Jeff Sessions	$103,700
Jeff Bingaman (chairman)	$96,270
Evan Bayh	$77,200
Jim Risch	$76,050
Mark Udall	$67,510
Tim Johnson	$49,900
John McCain	$30,550
Robert Menendez	$21,700
Debbie Stabenow	$18,300
Ron Wyden	$16,864
Jeanne Shaheen	$14,800
Maria Cantwell	$10,300
Jim Bunning	$10,000
Sam Brownback	$4,600
Bernie Sanders	$3,100

Earlier this week, Sen. Tom Coburn and a group of Republican senators sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid stating that certain provisions in the health care reform bill violated disclosure requirements created in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. Here's a snippet of the letter (Full letter):

"It is clear that the Manager’s Amendment, in addition to the underlying bill, includes specific provisions which benefit some states and not others. We therefore ask you, as the sponsor of the Manager’s Amendment and underlying bill, to provide a list of all earmarks and congressional directed spending as required by The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007.”

This is a bit perplexing for a couple of reasons. First, the letter does not provide a list of the provisions that may be in violation of disclosure requirements. In the past, Coburn has been excellent at naming and providing lists of earmarks and other questionable provisions in bills, so this strikes me as a bit odd. Second, and most important, the provisions that I can only assume that Coburn is referring to would not fall under the disclosure requirements laid out in the 2007 ethics law. The provisions most likely being referred to are the Louisiana Medicaid deal made by Sen. Mary Landrieu and the Nebraska Medicaid deal made by Sen. Ben Nelson. Increases or changes in Medicaid or Medicare spending are not "directed spending items" as defined by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act and would not be subject to disclosure requirements. Here's the relevant legislative language:

5 "(a) the term 'congressionally directed spending item' means a provision or report language included primarily at the request of a Senator providing, authorizing, or recommending a specific amount of discretionary budget authority, credit authority, or other spending authority for a contract, loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other expenditure with or to an entity, or targeted to a specific State, locality or Congressional district, other than through a statutory or administrative formula-driven or competitive process"

Emphasis added. Medicaid and Medicare funding are statutory and administrative formula-driven processes and thus the disclosure requirement does not apply.

Now there could very well be other items in the Senate manager's amendment to the health care bill that would be subject to these disclosure requirements. I don't know. It would be useful to see Coburn's list of "over a half dozen" such provisions to gauge whether they should be subject to the relevant disclosure requirements. Furthermore, if Coburn believes that the requirements under the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act do not go far enough in requiring the disclosure of spending targeted towards the interests of particular members it would be interesting and useful to see statutory or rules changes that he thinks are appropriate. That's a conversation I'd like to have.

The New York Times reports that there are three Democratic senators who are viewed as holdouts on a procedural vote to go forward with debate on the final Senate health care reform bill. The senators are most conservative members of the Democratic caucus and represent states that largely voted for Republicans in both the 2004 and 2008 presidential races. They also are all top recipients of campaign contributions from the health insurance industry and have former staffers working for the industry.

From 2005 to 2009, Sen. Blanche Lincoln has received $139,149 from the health insurers and HMOs. The majority of that money comes from Blue Cross Blue Shield, the health insurance provider that holds a 75 percent market share in the senator's home state of Arkansas. Blue Cross Blue Shield has contributed over $80,ooo to Sen. Lincoln since the 2006 election cycle.

Elizabeth Barnett, Sen. Lincoln's former health advisor, left the senator's office in 2007 to work as Blue Cross Blue Shield's top Democratic lobbyist. Earlier this year, Barnett left Blue Cross to work for Avenue Solutions, where she retains Blue Cross Blue Shield as a client. Avenue Solutions’ profile of Barnett notes that she “had primary responsibility for representing [Blue Cross Blue Shield] and its 39 member plans before the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Democratic Leadership, and other key Senate committees and offices.” Barnett also represents the two other major health insurers UnitedHealth Group and Aetna.

(You can see a visualization of Sen. Lincoln's connections to health care companies through her former staffers turned lobbyists here. This was created for a previous post on Sen. Lincoln.)

In 2005, Sen. Lincoln's chief of staff Kelly Bingel left to work for Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Inc. with a lobbying portfolio that includes over a dozen clients invested in health care reform. Bingel represents a who’s who of the health care industry including America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and Pharmaceutical Researchers & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). While AHIP previously refused to take sides in the health care debate, in the past few months the health insurers group has voiced a full-throated opposition to the public option and has taken on the administration and Congress over the overall bill. PhRMA, on the hand, received a sweetheart deal that was crafted by Sen. Max Baucus and the White House that won their support of the entire bill.

Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska is third Democratic holdout. Since the 2006 election cycle, Sen. Nelson has received $91,200 from health insurers and HMOs. Like Sen. Lincoln, the majority of that money comes from Blue Cross Blue Shield with $65,550 coming from the largest health insurance provider in the senator's state.

Sen. Nelson's former legislative director Amy Terjal left his office in 2007 to work as a lobbyist at Avenue Solutions, the same firm as Barnett. Terjal holds the same clients as Barnett. Three of the top health insurers in the nation -- Blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealth Group and Aetna -- are clients of Terjal's.

Another Democratic holdout, Louisiana's Sen. Mary Landrieu received $104,548 from health insurers and HMOs since the 2006 election cycle. Sen. Landrieu's long time chief of staff Jason Matthews (1996-2009) left her office this year to work as director of congressional affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is a staunch opponent of health care reform recently commissioning a study to prove that the stated health care reforms being considered in Congress would have a negative economic impact.

Health insurers had remained on the sidelines of the health care reform debate until recently. In October, AHIP released a study that claimed to show the cost of health insurance plans rising in the years following the enactment of reform. Since then, the organization has begun running television commercials in at least 10 states threatening seniors that their benefits will be cut under the reforms under consideration in Washington.

Earlier today, Majority Leader Harry Reid held a closed door meeting with these three senators to assuage their concerns and court their vote on cloture for the health reform bill. Sen. Nelson released a statement that appears to show support for voting in favor of cloture on the bill, "Why would you stop senators from doing the job they're elected to do -- debate, consider amendments, and take action on an issue affecting every American?"

Six senators called for a seventy day hold on voting on health care reform legislation today, according to the Huffington Post. The senators involved include three Democrats, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Ron Wyden, two Republicans, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, and one Independent, Joe Lieberman. Each these senators has raised at least $1 million from the health and insurance sectors combined over the course of their respective careers. What could seventy days do for their campaign coffers?

(Some of these senators are not in cycle right now and are not raising much money right now, but, hypothetically, this is the money they could be raising considering the amounts they have raised over the course of their career.)

Sen. Susan Collins raised $1,559,446 from the health and insurance sectors over the course of her career. Her first day in office was January 7, 1997. In total, she has served 4,574 days as a United States Senator. This calculates out to her raising $341 every day from the health and insurance sectors. Seventy more days would yield $23,870.

Sen. Mary Landrieu raised $1,676,353 from the health and insurance sectors over the course of her career. Her first day in office was January 7, 1997. In total, she has served 4,574 days as a United States Senator. This calculates out to her raising $366.50 every day from the health and insurance sectors. Seventy more days would yield $25,655.

Sen. Joe Lieberman raised $3,593,771 from the health and insurance sectors over the course of his career. His first day in office, as a senator, was January 3, 1989. In total, he has served 7,136 days as a United States Senator. This works out to him raising $504 a day from the health and insurance sectors. Seventy more days would yield $35,280.

Sen. Ben Nelson raised $2,257,165 from the health and insurance sectors over the course of his career. His first day in office, as a senator, was January 3, 2001. In total, he has served 3,118 days as a United States Senator. This works out to him raising $724 a day from the health and insurance sectors. Seventy more days would yield $50,680.

Sen. Olympia Snowe raised $1,147,630 from the health and insurance sectors over the course of her career. Her first day in office was January 4, 1995. In total, she has served 5,309 days as a United States Senator. This calculates out to her raising $216 every day from the health and insurance sectors. Seventy more days would yield $15,120.

Sen. Ron Wyden raised $1,414,911 from the health and insurance sectors over the course of his career. His first day in office, as a senator, was February 6, 1996. In total, he has served 4,911 days as a United States Senator. This works out to $288 every day from the health and insurance sectors. Seventy more days would yield $20,160.

Factor in lobbying into these seventy days and the amount of spending around this bill could skyrocket. If we go by the numbers presented by the Washington Post, that the health sector is spending $1.4 million a day on lobbying, then we'll find another seventy days would allow the industry to spend another $98 million.