NEWS ROUNDUP:

• A longtime defense industry lobbyist, John Bonsell, has a new job as the head of the Republican staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee. His predecessor, Ann Sauer, was also a defense lobbyist with Lockheed Martin for many years. (POGO)
• Proposed changes to Denmark’s Freedom of Information Act would allow the government to hide a variety of information that would currently be public. Two provisions in the proposed law would obscure material of a “political advisory” nature as well as broad swaths of information about the parliamentary process. (Tech President)
• The Supreme Court has long been one of America’s most close lipped institutions, only recently agreeing to release audio of their oral arguments in a, relatively, timely manner. But, they have been recording their arguments for nearly 60 years and now nearly all cases dating back to 1955 can be heard by the general public. (NPR)
• The Office of Management and Budget has a new director. The Senate confirmed Sylvia Burwell in a unanimous vote on Wednesday, nearly a month after she was nominated by President Obama. (Executive Gov)
• The major Democratic party committees relied on Federal lobbyists to help them with their first quarter fundraising to the tune of $1 million. Between them, the DSCC and DCCC received close to that sum from lobbyist bundlers over the past 3 months. (Public Integrity)
• While some financial firms slowed lobbying spending during the first quarter, many industry related trade associations boosted their spending. (Roll Call)
• Members of Congress, and sometimes their spouses, traveled around the world during their recent two-week break. Private sponsors sent politicians to a variety of locales at the cost of $436,000. (Roll Call)

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