As stated in the note from the Sunlight Foundation′s Board Chair, as of September 2020 the Sunlight Foundation is no longer active. This site is maintained as a static archive only.

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Tag Archive: shutdown

It’s not just Republican House incumbents who face primary opposition

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If the media coverage of shutdown politics is to be believed, House Republicans' fear of 'getting primaried' bya more conservative opponent was the major impediment to moderate GOP-ers reaching a bargain with Democrats on healthcare and federal spending. However, a survey of competitive House primaries -- compiled using Sunlight's Realtime FEC tracker -- shows that incumbent Democrats are also subject to serious challenges from partisan opponents.

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To battle tax, medical device industry turns to D.C. insiders

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As the country hurtles toward financial default and the government shutdown enters it's 16th day, one of the crucial elements surfacing in various GOP proposals to end the stalemate is a repeal of the medical device tax, passed as part of the Affordable Care Act. While the industry was not powerful enough to keep the tax out of Obamacare, it has waged a strong campaign since to win a repeal, employing Washington lobbyists-for-hire with deep Washington contacts. Meet some of these lobbyists via our Influence Explorer and Party Time tools.

Tarplin, Downs & Young. Cofounded in 2006 by a trio ...

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Another Victim of the Shutdown: Senate Campaign Finance Disclosure

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Senate E-Filing At Its FinestCongress has failed to keep the government running for more than a week, and even though life on the campaign fundraising circuit has slowed somewhat, the government shutdown won’t stop members of Congress from asking for—and receiving—campaign contributions. The unseemliness of elected officials dialing for dollars from fat cat contributors while 800,000 federal workers are shut out of their jobs is bad enough. But, as a twisted result of the government shutdown, Senate candidates will get a pass on filing their disclosure reports on time and the public will be completely in the dark as to who is funding their campaigns.

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Who’s going to blink? Influence profiles of eight who could end the shutdown

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If the government shutdown is going to be resolved, it's going to take compromise by some key players who so far haven't shown much willingness to bend. So who might influence these influentials? Sunlight decided to examine some of the monied interests behind key figures in the debate.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, in many cases the special interests are closely aligned with their beneficiaries' positions in the standoff, which largely revolves around the health care debate.

Here's a closer look:

Barack Obama

The president is the most prodigious fundraising weapon in the Democrats' arsenal. His campaign's success in ...

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The Politics of the Government Shutdown – In One Chart

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As the government shutdown begins, so does the blame game. Is it Republicans’ fault? Democrats’ fault? While the endless speculation keeps pundits busy, it’s important to remember that members of Congress don’t care about “the public” in the abstract. They care about the public in their district. We say “district” because any deal to re-start the government will require agreement by both the House and the Senate. While senators, with their broader constituencies, have to worry more about voters in the center, no such pressure exists for most House members. A quick analysis finds roughly seven in eight House Republicans (86.6 percent, to be exact, or 201 of 232) won with at least 55 percent of the vote in 2012. Additionally, 140 Republicans (60.3 percent of the caucus) won with at least 60 percent of the vote. The chart below shows the distribution of seats by margin of victory. Note: most Democrats also come from safe seats.   house_shares

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