2Day in #OpenGov 12/2/2011

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Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post.

It’s Friday! Celebrate the end of the week with a look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events.

News Roundup:

Government

  • At a hearing to discuss the STOCK act, experts outlined a number of ways to strengthen the bill and suggested that it might not even be necessary. They were unanimous in calling for an online searchable database of Congressional stock trades. (Roll Call $)
  • Conflicting reports about the amount of money the US government spends on nuclear weapons programs have made one thing clear: the government has never been fully open about the costs associated with them. (POGO)
  • Opinion: Fix government by creating a new “user interface” for it. (Wall Street Journal)
Campaign Finance
  • Political groups have already spent at least $35 million on the 2012 election and related policy issues. Spending is only expected to increase as the election draws closer. (The Hill)
  • Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is turning to Wall street and K street for financial help fending off Elizabeth Warren, his 2012 challenger. (iWatchNews)
  • The FEC deadlocked on a question of how closely Super PACs and members of Congress are allowed to work together on campaign ads. The non-decision is likely to turn lawmakers off from coordinating too closely with outside groups on advertisements. (National Journal)
  • The FEC did decide that members of Congress are not allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts on behalf of other candidates. The commission unanimously rejected a request by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to use his leadership PAC as a Super PAC. (National Journal)
Lobbying
  • This week, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) expressed concern about the way federal regulators treated AT&T’s efforts to merge with T-Mobile. It was revealed yesterday that Blunt’s son is registered to lobby for AT&T in Missouri. (National Journal)

Relevant committee hearings scheduled for 12/2:

  • None.

Relevant bills introduced:

  • None.
Transparency events scheduled for 12/2:
  • None.

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