Identifying some individuals who receive generous federal crop subsidies without going anywhere near a farm has gotten trickier. The Department of Agriculture, which paid $15.4 billion in 2009 subsidies, is no longer centralizing the data that made it easier to pinpoint individuals who receive farm payments through their affiliation in farming corporations, co-ops and other types of business partnerships.
“Recipients can hide behind ‘paper farms’ and reap thousands of dollars in a taxpayers program without being accountable for it,” said Don Carr, a spokesman for the Environmental Working Group (EWG).
EWG has used USDA information to put together a ...
Hedge fund players pump millions into party committees
In the 2010 election cycle so far, Hedge Fund executives, managers and investors contributed more than $12.8 million to national and state party committees--the Democratic National Committee, the Republican National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and so on--in chunks ranging from $10,000 to $30,400, a search of TransparencyData.com reveals.
The maximum amount an individual can give to a party committee in an election cycle is $30,400; OpenSecrets.org has a handy primer on the contribution limits here.
The full list of donors and recipients is below.
Checking Out the New USASpending.gov
USASpending.gov got a face-lift on Wednesday evening, and it brought with it a raft of new features. Some of these are great; others are either not very useful, or an actual step backward. Let's run through them -- not only to highlight the features and shortcomings, but to examine what they can tell us about how government should be opening its data.
Grassroots Fundraising for Open Source Software
By now, you've heard of Diaspora, the Kickstarter-funded effort to build an open, privacy-minded alternative to Facebook. In recent weeks, helped by a widely-circulated New York Times article, the project has raised over $180,000 from 5,000 backers. Considering that the project, while well-thought out by four undergrads at NYU, has not produced a single line of code, these figures are surprising to say the least. But hoping for the best, assuming that this project does deliver something tangible and useful at the end of the summer, it would inform a workable funding model for open source software projects.
Continue readingSenate approves financial reform in a late night vote
The Senate passed sweeping financial reform legislation last night, aimed at keeping the financial sector from collapsing as it did in 2008. The final vote was 59-39, with four Republicans joining the majority party to get the bill through. Two Democrats remained opposed to the bill, saying the Senate measure didn't include tough enough regulations.
Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins from Maine, Chuck Grassley from Iowa, and Scott Brown from Massachusetts all voted yes, with Grassley saying that this bill sends a message to Wall Street.
"There’s no question this bill has flaws," Grassley said. "Big ...
Electronic Filing Provision included in DISCLOSE Act: A Win for Transparency
The Committee on House Administration marked up the DISCLOSE Act today, overcoming the first of many hurdles the bill will... View Article
Continue readingFinancial reform moves to Senate vote
After a second procedural vote this afternoon, the Senate was able to shut down debate on S. 3217, Restoring American Financial Stability. Exactly three-fifths of the senate, including 3 Republicans, voted in favor of the motion, which passed 60-40. Two Democrats voted no.
It is likely that the final vote on the bill will be as early as tomorrow.
The newly elected senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, joined the two Republican Senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, in delivering yes votes. In a statement, Brown said he was assured by Sen. Reid, D-Nev., that “the issues related to ...
Data on assaults on federal officers, found in the National Data Catalog
The Drug Enforcement Agency, which has an international network of agents that's been involved in high profile arrests of arms smugglers and domestically carries out a number of drug raids, including shutting down meth houses, had just one officer assaulted or killed in the line of duty in all of 2006 and 2007, according to statistics maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and accessed through Sunlight's new National Data Catalog.
Recently the Reporting Group has been reviewing the accuracy of crime and Justice Department statistics, something we mentioned in a chapter we produced for the Open Government ...
Senator Doesn’t Get ATMs, Gets Money From Banks
In the latest episode in Ted Stevens-style technological misunderstandings comes this entry from Nebraska senator Ben Nelson: The Nebraska Democrat... View Article
Continue reading“Heart of the Matter” wins honorable mention
We are honored to announce that our investigation, "Heart of the Matter: How Congress and Special Interests Kept Crucial Clinical Trial Data Secret," has won an honorable mention in the sixteenth annual health care journalism awards sponsored by the National Institute for Health Care Management (NICHM) Foundation.
The contest, which was decided by an independent panel of judges, "recognizes the talented researchers and journalists who serve as a catalysts for positive change by advancing and informing the health care policy debate," according to the NIHCM's press release.
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