The private rocket that made history early this morning when it blasted the first commercially-launched payload for the international space station into orbit also was fuelled by a decade-long, multi-million-dollar political effort to pry funding from a sometimes skeptical Congress.
Since its inception in 2002, SpaceX, the company behind Tuesday's successful launch, has spent more than $4 million lobbying Congress and given more than $800,000 in political contributions, according to data compiled from Sunlight's Influence Explorer. Many of the company's campaign donations went to key members of Congress in charge of the budget for NASA, which ...
Continue readingDangerous medical device ‘loophole’ still wide open
Consumer groups are crying foul over bipartisan legislation to extend user fees for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. They say that the bill, which the Senate hopes to pass this week, is missing a provision that would close a dangerous loophole in medical device safety.
Right now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have the power to require medical device manufacturers to prove they've fixed known safety flaws before they put a new device on the market. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., both introduced bills earlier this year that would give the FDA this ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 5/21/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP Government Lobbyists spending lots of time at the White House: An analysis of White House visitor logs and... View Article
Continue readingMillion dollar check club: Who’s writing big checks to super PACs
There's always been ways for big money to find its way into politics, but one of the changes ushered in by the super PAC era is the opportunity to flaunt it.
Instead of having to spread their influence around in donations to various committees, deep-pocketed donors can now show their influence with a flourish, writing seven figure checks -- like the $1 million one, filings with Federal Election Commission made over the weekend show, that the National Air Traffic Controllers union gave last month to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC backing President Obama's reelection bid, or the $2 ...
Continue readingSunlight Foundation, non-profits, file brief in SCOTUS dark money case
The Campaign Legal Center filed this amicus brief on behalf of 14 nonprofit organizations (including the Sunlight Foundation) before the... View Article
Continue readingIs Congress getting dumber, or just more plainspoken?
(This post was prepared in collaboration with Dan Drinkard) Congress now speaks at almost a full grade level lower than... View Article
Continue readingCongress far from exemplary in SAT word proficiency
(This post was prepared in collaboration with Dan Drinkard) If you do well on your SAT test, then you will... View Article
Continue readingThe changing complexity of congressional speech
(This post was prepared in collaboration with Dan Drinkard) Congress now speaks at almost a full grade level lower than... View Article
Continue readingTwo Steps Forward on Improving Public Access to Legislative Information
As I wrote yesterday, each day seems to bring a small step forward on improving public access to legislative information,... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 5/18/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP Government Revolt emerges against earmark ban: The GOP backlash against their own earmark ban is continuing to build momentum. A... View Article
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