We're still tracking government's performance under the Open Government Directive, and we're also asking for specific information to be released. Here's the data we'd like to see on food and drug safety, which we posted over at the Department of Health and Human Services "open" Web page. The agency set up this commenting system as part of President Barack Obama's open government directive. Please take a moment to visit and vote for our suggestions. (Unfortunately the HHS comment format made our paragraphs run together and slightly truncated our comment. This is fixed below.) We ...
Continue readingRecovery rail funds could benefit freight industry
USA Today reported yesterday
that an inspector general investigation and congressional critics say
that the Federal Railroad Administration, which awarded $8 billion in
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for high speed rail
projects around the country, lacked the technical expertise to choose
projects. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the ranking member of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, described the process as
“amateur hour,” according to the paper, and complained that too much
money is dedicated to increasing speeds on existing Amtrak routes. The
Sunlight Reporting Group ran a piece highlighting that a few weeks ago.
While Amtrak
conceded that ...
U.S. Sugar’s Sweet Deal
In the everything that's old is new again department, today The New York Times reports that Florida's ailing U.S. Sugar Corporation stands to profit mightily from a deal originally meant to preserve the Everglades:
The proposal was downsized only five months after it was announced. By April 2009, amid the deepening recession, the state said it could afford to purchase only 72,800 acres of United States Sugars land, for $536 million. The company would stay in business and the state would retain the option of buying the remaining 107,000 acres at a future date.Continue readingUnited ...
D.C. lobbyists drive Burr’s fundraising
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., formally announced his reelection bid on Feb. 22, 2010, with an open house at his Winston-Salem campaign headquarters, but the first term member has been raising money since he took office. Since January 2009 alone, he and his campaign have sent out at least 38 invitations to fundraisers, according to our Party Time database, the great majority of them in Washington, D.C. The events have helped him raise a total of $6.7 million, $4.3 million of which he still has in the bank.
Lobbyists and Political Action Committees (PACs), some of whom ...
Continue readingMembers, staffers on both sides of “Chinese wall” between earmarks, fundraisers?
If nothing else, Jeffrey Smith's story in the Washington Post proves that Mark Twain's critique of congressional investigations still holds: "One does not blindfold one's self in order to investigate an object." So it is in the matter of PMA Group, the lobbying group that was a top donor to members of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee who were top earmarkers for PMA Group's clients.
The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct--better known as the House Ethics Committee--looked at the hundreds of thousands of dollars that PMA Group and its clients contributed to lawmakers and the ...
Farm Subsidies Still Missing from USDAs Data-Rich Website
Farm subsidies have a way of inciting people. Here, in the words of the Environmental Working Group, is why:
Just ten percent of America's largest and richest farms collect almost three-fourths of federal farm subsidies cash payments that too often promote harmful environmental practices.
For the past five years, EWG has undertaken the arduous task of acquiring subsidy-payment data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Freedom of Information Act, cleaning up millions of records and assembling them into a database that can be searched by name, county, city, farm program, crop and congressional district. The database ...
New Ways and Means head courted by tax lobbyists
The Ways and Means committee skipped the seniority process and appointed Rep. Sander Levin to the helm of the powerful tax committee, and lawyers and lobbyists that specializes in tax issues will have an early opportunity to congratulate him.
Later this month, the law and lobbying firm William & Jensen will host donors to Levin at their townhouse in Washington, D.C. The firm was founded "with
the primary mission of advancing the tax policy interests of clients,"
its Web site states, and it adds that "Our consistent involvement in
Federal tax legislation has given
Williams & Jensen a reputation as one ...
Rangel bows out at Ways and Means
The Hill reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped California Democrat Rep. Pete Stark to fill in for Charles Rangel, who's taken a leave of absence from the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee after being admonished by the Select Committee on Ethics. Unlike Rangel, who was a favorite of banks, brokerages and insurers, Stark's most generous supporters are tax exempt organizations.
Barney Frank deals a bill, internet poker lobby antes up
Via the Real Time Ticker, the Federal Election Commission has posted the latest form 3-L -- or bundling report -- from Rep. Barney Frank's campaign. The disclosure lists the names of lobbyists who have raised at least $16,000 from donors to give to Frank's campaign committee. Page two of the latest filing from the Frank campaign shows that John Pappas, a lobbyist for the Poker Players Alliance, bundled $51,200 for the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who also happens to be the sponsor of the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act. The Poker Players ...
Continue readingIn Indiana, stimulus grows rainy day fund
The North West Indiana County Times recently pointed out something fascinating about how Indiana was using funds granted to it under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:
Indiana State Budget Director Christopher Ruhl confirmed the federal stimulus money was used to provide basic tuition support dollars for school districts, allowing the state to squirrel away funds that normally would have been used for that purpose.Continue reading
"The state dollars saved were placed in our education rainy day fund," he said. "The special session budget required those funds be transferred from the education rainy day fund to the state general fund in ...
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