Today's Supreme Court decisions, both of which heartened proponents of gay marriage, come at a time when gay donors have become formidable players in the political money game. In the 2012 election cycle, gay rights groups and individuals associated with them spent nearly $17 million on campaign contributions and other political spending at the federal and state level, according to a search on Influence Explorer. Gay rights groups also reported spending more than $3.8 million on federal lobbying over the same time period.
Most of that campaign cash--57 percent--went to state level campaigns and issues, where gay marriage ...
Continue readingPesticide industry would benefit from farm bill provisions
Tucked within the 1,234-page House farm bill expected to come up for debate next week are two controversial provisions benefitting the pesticide industry by reversing court-ordered federal agency policies designed to protect water and wildlife.
Continue readingSenators who write farm bill fine print reap agribusiness campaign cash
As senators cast their votes today on the 1,139-page, $955 billion farm bill, the unseen backdrop is the more than $26 million in campaign cash that agribusiness has pumped into their political campaigns. All but two members of the current Senate have received money from these donors who represent every possible agriculture concern, from sugar growers to dairy farmers to chemical manufacturers and more.
It’s an axiom of agriculture politics that agribusiness interests concentrate their generosity on members of key committees who write and fund the farm bill. As the graphic below shows, the current Senate is no ...
Continue readingNote to Volcker Alliance: push transparency
When Paul Volcker announced this week that he was starting a new organization–the Volcker Alliance–whose goal is to “restore public... View Article
Continue readingThanks to lobbying, farm bill yields crop insurance funds
It's deja vu all over again as the Senate debates the farm bill this week--just as it did nearly a year ago without any legislation ultimately passing--and one of the hot button issues remains the crop insurance program whose cost has been steadily rising to more than $14 billion in 2012. The Senate bill reforms but also expands the Depression-era program; President Barack Obama has called for additional cuts and several senators are offering amendments to reform it.
On the other side are the agricultural trade associations representing the crop insurers and the farmers that make use of ...
Continue readingTangled web: The IRS role in campaign finance
With the burgeoning scandal about the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) singling out small conservative nonprofit groups for scrutiny, upcoming hearings, and a Justice Department investigation, the public is getting a quick schooling in the byzantine ways tax exempt "social welfare" groups get involved in the political game.
A long list of nonprofit groups spend big on politics. They run the gamut from well known organizations of long standing, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to Crossroads GPS, the brainchild of Republican strategist Karl Rove. As reported in the New York Times, even as it was apparently targeting small Tea ...
Continue readingKey elements of food safety law stuck at White House regulatory agency
Regulations designed to improve food safety have been languishing in an obscure White House office.
Continue readingAs summer growing season starts, produce safety rules delayed
As the nation's farmers enter a new growing season two years after 33 people died and 147 people were sickened in 28 states after eating listeria-infested canteloupe from a Colorado farm, the produce industry has effectively delayed implementation of a law intended to improve food safety.
The United Fresh Produce Association, which describes itself as "industry's leading trade association committed to driving the growth and success of produce companies and their partners" spearheaded the push for more time to comment on a pair of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules toughening safety standards for farms and processors.
The ...
Continue readingReal estate investment trusts increasing lobbying profile
As more businesses opt for a legal status known as "real estate investment trusts" (REITS) to qualify for tax breaks, they have an active champion in Washington, the trade group known as the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.
The group may not have the name recognition of some of the larger financial lobbies, such as the American Bankers Association or the Real Estate Roundtable, but it has a very active lobbying profile, primarily on tax bills. This week the group, known as NAREIT, reported spending more than $1 million during the first quarter of this year, almost doubling ...
Continue readingWhy are efforts to regulate potentially hazardous plastics stalled?
In late 2009, when Lisa Jackson, at the time President Barack Obama's new head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), invoked a long-existing but never-before-used power to to create a list of "chemicals of concern," the administration appeared to be putting chemical companies on notice that it planned to be aggressive about regulating risks from exposure to the industry's product. Jackson's list included eight of the common plasticizers known as "phthalates" that have been shown to cause to reproductive abnormalities in animal studies and that have also been linked to health problems in humans. They are used ...
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