{"id":348931,"date":"2010-02-22T01:15:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T06:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:www.opensecrets.org,2010:\/news\/\/8.1384"},"modified":"2010-02-22T09:12:45","modified_gmt":"2010-02-22T14:12:45","slug":"health-care-reforms-starting-point-guns-in-national-parks-and-more-in-capital-eye-opener-february-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/348931","title":{"rendered":"Health Care Reform’s ‘Starting Point,’ Guns in National Parks and More in Capital Eye Opener: February 22"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ObamaBarackFlag.jpg\"<\/a>Your daily dose of news and views from the world of money in politics:<\/p>\n

WHITE HOUSE, REPUBLICANS READY FOR HEALTH CARE SHOWDOWN: <\/strong>President Barack Obama is slated to today release text<\/a> of a broad “starting point<\/a>” ahead of a televised health care reform summit later this week with congressional Republicans. Any good reason to think that lobbyists won’t be hard at work, too, as politicians attempt to restart all-but-dormant reform efforts? Probably not. Consider that in 2009, health care-related companies and special interest groups spent more than $544 million<\/a> on federal lobbying efforts — obliterating their previous high from the year before. And a number of companies and entities that have lobbied heavily on health care reform — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, AARP, Pfizer, Blue Cross\/Blue Shield, the American Medical Association — all rank within the United States’ top 10 federal lobbying clients<\/a> of 2009. While federal lobbying disclosure reports for the first quarter of 2010 aren’t due until mid-April, it’s all but certain the above-mentioned, and other health-related organizations will continue to pour millions of dollars more into this months-old debate.<\/p>\n

\"handgun.jpg\"<\/a>NEW LAW TRIGGERS GUN FREEDOMS:<\/strong> A federal law takes effect today<\/a> that allows gun owners to tote their weapons within national parks, so long as they obey local laws. It’s a major victory for gun rights advocates, who argue gun owners should have had such rights decades ago. And it comes as pro-gun forces spent more on federal lobbying efforts<\/a> in 2009 than in any year since 2002 — all told, nearly $5 million. They targeted at least some of that money at both the House and Senate versions of the “Preservation of the Second Amendment in National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges Act,” a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates. Gun control advocates, meanwhile, spent a relative pittance in 2009 on federal lobbying efforts — $180,000. Most of that came from a single organization: Mayors Against Illegal Guns<\/a>. The decline in gun control advocates’ lobbying power is striking: In 2001, the special interest area spent more than $2.1 million on federal lobbying efforts.<\/p>\n

CRP, IN THE NEWS:<\/strong> CBS News<\/em>‘ Bob Schieffer, in a commentary Sunday<\/a> on Face the Nation<\/em>, noted our figures of how much 2008 federal elections cost … Thomas J. Stewart, a food services magnate who died last week in a helicopter crash, was also a prolific Republican campaign bankroller, reports the Arizona Republic<\/em> in using our data<\/a> … Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee<\/a> (D-Texas) knows how to cash in when her campaign needs support the most, writes the Houston Chronicle<\/em>, which quotes us and notes our data<\/a> … The Tennessean<\/em>‘s Bill Theobald credits our research<\/a> in reporting that his home state’s companies engaged in tens of millions of dollars worth of federal lobbying.<\/p>\n

Have a news tip or link to pass along? We want to hear from you! E-mail us at press@crp.org<\/a>.
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