Five years after the Senate last approved new members to the nation's election watchdog agency, President Barack Obama's two nominees face their first test Wednesday at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. And while no opposition has surfaced so far, there remain plenty of questions about whether new members can change an agency that's taking on one-tenth the number of enforcement actions that it did a decade ago.
Obama's two picks for the Federal Election Commission are California regulator Ann Ravel and Virginia lawyer Lee Goodman. Ravel would fill an open Democratic ...
Continue readingGang of Eight enlists K Street
The bipartisan group of senators known as the Gang of Eight is planning a sequel to their Senate approach to... View Article
Continue readingWho’s on top in June fundraising?
Sunlight looks at fundraising by political parties and political action committees and provides a sortable .csv of the data.
Continue readingEx post facto lobbying: Banks blitz regulators to soften Dodd-Frank’s impact
The same financial interests that lobbied Congress when the Dodd-Frank reform legislation was being considered have turned their efforts toward the executive branch as it crafts rules implementing the law.
Continue readingDodd-Frank meeting data need improvement
As much as big data can tell us about how the big financial institutions that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis are dominating the rule writing for the Dodd-Frank law, our reporting has alerted us to the limitations of the data -- and to how important it is to watchdog.
Continue readingLucky 13: House challengers with the best second quarter hauls
The 2014 elections may be 16 months away but second quarter fundraising reports filed this week show a number of challengers already showing off some big numbers to the incumbent House lawmakers they want to unseat.
Continue readingWyoming showdown: Enzi v. Cheney likely to set off a money scramble
The race between two well-connected Republicans will put big donors in a bind in Wyoming.
Continue readingRep. Benishek’s measure would help farm lobby delay food safety rules
Consumer advocates are decrying as “dangerous” and “unnecessary” a measure to delay food safety rules that Rep. Dan Benishek, R-Mich., tacked onto the House-passed version of the farm bill with the blessing of the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Continue readingSen. Markey’s IOUs
Long-time Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who will be sworn into the U.S. Senate today, a victory for the left-leaning coalition of bit doors who helped him win a special election last month.
Continue readingObama’s nonprofit gets more big donors
President Obama's nonprofit group released its donors for the second quarter on Friday, and the group is leaning more heavily on the megarich than it did in the first quarter, when it was launched.
The group also raised more money, bringing in $8.2 million in the second quarter compared to $4.8 million last time. Here is a downloadable .csv file of all the donors, though only those who gave $250 or more are included.
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