by Justin Lin, policy intern

NEWS:

• House Speaker John Boehner has raised over $6 million during the second quarter. Individuals from Elliott Management gave $225,000 in total to Boehner, and employees from Swisher International were close behind, giving a total of $180,000. (Roll Call)
• In addition, to Boehner, Senators and House members have been reporting second quarter donations in the past week. They include Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who is running for an open Senate seat, raising $4.5 million in the past quarter and Paul Ryan, who raised $1.1 million, surprisingly large amounts even in an age when candidates raise money so quickly. (Roll Call)
• The ceiling fan industry is turning its back on regulations it once supported, enacted by the Bush administration in 2005. Most recently, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) offered an amendment to HR 2609 (Energy-Water Appropriations) that would restrict funding specifically for writing the regulations. (Roll Call)
• The Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act, originally re-introduced by two Republican and two Democratic Senators, has passed the House by a 390-0 vote. This bill would increase transparency on the funding for foreign aid, forcing the President to provide guidelines on “goals, performance metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans to be applied to U.S. foreign assistance activities.” (Roll Call)
• Cora Carper, a secretary for the Insulators PAC in Maryland, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for embezzling over $500,000. That’s quite a significant amount of money, especially considering the PAC raises around $500,000 each election cycle. (Roll Call)
• Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has raised over $18,000 alone from employees of Northrup Grumman, a major defense contractor. It must be nice for him to receive all that money from companies that his committee oversees. (Roll Call)