The effect on the water supply of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking -- a method for extracting heretofore hard to reach natural gas reserves -- has caught national attention, even inspiring a fiercely critical movie. Now, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is looking into the effect of fracking on the air -- and getting an earful from witnesses from organizations on both sides of the debate with long track records in Washington's influence game..
The panel's Clean Air and Nuclear Safety subcommittee held a hearing Tuesday on recently issued Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) performance standards for reducing ...
Continue readingAg, chemical interests lobby for farm bill to reverse pesticide rules
A host of pesticide and agricultural interests is lobbying for a farm bill amendment that would permit farmers and others to spray pesticides near U.S. waters without seeking a Clean Water Act permit first.
The Pesticide Policy Coalition, CropLife America, Syngenta Corp. and Dow AgroSciences are among the organizations listed as clients in new lobbyist registrations last month by John H. Thorne, according to Sunlight's lobbying registration tracker. Thorne recently joined the firm Bergeson & Campbell, which describes itself as an environmental law firm that helps "companies that make and use chemicals commercialize their products, maintain compliance, and achieve ...
Continue readingWho’s the money behind the farm bill?
As the Senate debates the farm bill this week, a once-every-five-years lobbying extravaganza that sets policy on farm subsidies, food assistance, nutrition, and myriad other agricultural programs, here's a quick look at some of the big money interests that are involved, as well as pressure points for transparency, or the lack of it.
The money. Agribusiness has already sunk $39.2 million in direct contributions to federal candidate and party coffers this election cycle, nearly three-fourths of that to Republican interests, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In 2008, the last presidential election cycle, which also happened to ...
Continue readingMitt Romney makes an early appearance in lobbying filings
It's not surprising that a Republican stalwart like Bob Dole, the party's 1996 presidential candidate and, prior to that, the Senate Majority Leader, would have occasion to speak with current GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. But the context is: Dole's firm, Alston and Bird, disclosed that he's started to lobby Mitt Romney on behalf of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office of the United States (TECRO), the diplomatic mission of Taiwan to the United States.
Filings made to the Justice Dept. under the Foreign Agents Registration Act show that Dole has reached out to many ...
Continue readingAmericans for Prosperity campaigns without leaving a paper trail in Wisconsin
Much has been written about what Tuesday's Wisconsin recall race says about the influence of big money on politics, but the real story may be the influence of the money we don't know about.
Less than three hours after Democrat Tom Barrett conceded the $63 million-and-counting contest to Gov. Scott Walker, Americans for Prosperity, the big spending conservative group, sent an email to supporters hailing Walker's win and including a video highlight reel about "how AFP educated Wisconsin residents about Governor Walker's budget reforms."
The video shows footage of the customized AFP bus that rolled through ...
Continue readingGuess who’s giving to lawmaker trying to repeal tax on medical devices?
The Minnesota congressman leading the charge to repeal a medical device excise tax that is meant to generate a big chunk of funding for the health care reform law has taken the most campaign money--more than $64,000--from medical device manufacturers this election cycle.
Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., has attracted 240 cosponsors, including 11 Democrats, for his bill to repeal the 2.3 percent excise tax, which the House is scheduled to consider this week. Paulsen hails from a state where the medical device industry is a substantial employer. Companies such as Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, and Starkey Laboratories ...
Continue readingZynga places bet on lobbyists, hires two D.C. firms
Following a familiar path for high tech companies, social networking game platform Zynga has hired its first Washington lobbyists, filings with the Senate Office of Public Records show. The company seeks to influence legislation "pertaining to regulation and taxation of Internet gambling" as well as online privacy policy.
Zynga, whose share price has fallen recently, develops games for online sites like Facebook and for mobile devices. The company's prospectus, filed with Securities and Exchange Commission on March 23, notes that some of their games, including Zynga Poker, "may become subject to gambling-related rules and regulations and expose us to ...
Continue readingRealtors take out big mortgage on California House race
Tuesday's contest in California's 31st Congressional District morphed into the biggest outside money spending spree of any House primary so far, thanks a massive influx of funds by the National Association of Realtors on behalf of Rep. Gary Miller.
Late unofficial returns from the California Secretary of State's office show that Miller, a seven-term Republican running in a new district, topped a six-person field with nearly 27 percent of the votes cast, winning a slot on November's ballot. Because of a new California primary system that sends the top two finishers in a free-for-all primary to ...
Continue readingBloomberg sugary drink ban has powerful opponents
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's announcement that the city will pursue a ban on large sugary drinks sold at restaurants, movie theatres, and other locations is just the latest attempt in his campaign against obesity--one that has so far met with little success in the face of a powerful food lobby, one sometimes joined by odd bedfellows.
In 2010, when his administration asked the federal government for permission to prohibit New York City food stamp recipients from purchasing sugary drinks with their benefits, the Food Industry Alliance of New York State, a trade group representing New York State grocers and other ...
Continue readingMore JPMorgan meetings with Treasury on Volcker rule
JPMorgan executives, including CEO Jamie Dimon, attended several meetings at the Treasury Department last month to discuss the controversial Volcker rule and other matters related to the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, according to new meeting logs released by the agency Thursday.
In the weeks leading up to the bank's disclosure that it had lost at least $2 billion in the sort of hedging strategy that could come under question as agencies implement the Volcker ban on proprietary trading, JPMorgan executives attended three meetings at the agency, the logs show.
Two of those meetings, both on April 26 with Deputy ...
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