Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Big banks press financial agencies on Volcker rule

Big banks paid calls on federal financial agencies in the days leading up to Monday's midnight deadline for the public to submit comments on the controversial Volcker rule, a provision of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory legislation meant to prohibit banks from using customers' money to make risky bets on the market.

No government money to criticize soda, says freshman lawmaker

Outraged that federal stimulus money has been used for local advertisements targeting soda as unhealthy, Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., has introduced the Protecting Foods and Beverages from Government Attack Act, which would make it illegal to use federal funds to criticize a legal food or beverage product.

Hundreds of DC insiders descend on pricey Romney policy talks, reception

For a candidate who says he hasn’t spent a lot of time in Washington, Mitt Romney seems comfortable around D.C. insiders -- at least judging by the droves he drew to fundraisers and exclusive huddles in the nation's capital on Thursday.

Arab Spring Data

Arab Spring: One Year Later

New nuclear plant builder a major Washington player

The company benefiting from today’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission decision to approve the construction of the first new nuclear plant in the U.S. in over three decades is an influential powerhouse in Washington.

Dark money in the twilight of 2011

Dark money has haunted the psyche of good government reformers. Recent changes in campaign law raise the prospect of unlimited donations, routed to political action committees through 501(c)4 "social welfare" organizations that don't have to disclose contributors' names. That could allow innocuously named groups to shelter powerful individuals and corporations and the influence they're exercising to determine who wins a federal office.

Crossroads, Planned Parenthood advertise in presidential battlegrounds

As if independent expenditures by super PACs weren't enough, two major political players have notified the Federal Elections Commission of recent electioneering communications in states likely to be battlegrounds this fall.

Revolving door from CFTC to lobbying firm

A former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner has gone through the revolving door to the law and lobbying firm firm Patton Boggs, where he'll work as a senior policy advisor, the firm announced Tuesday.

Super PAC floodgates open

Whether you consider it a case of raging hypocrisy or a common sense decision not to unilaterally disarm -- and there will be plenty of predictably partisan views on both sides -- President Obama's decision to greenlight donations to a super PAC that former staffers formed last year is confirmation that the influence of big money on politics is about to get exponentially bigger.

Super PAC profile: Democratic governors play in presidential primary

DGA Action is a super PAC created by the Democratic Governors Association, but so far in this election cycle, all of its ads have been against Republican presidential candidates.

Super PAC filings show who big donors of 2011 were

The deadline for presidential super PACs like Restore Our Future and Winning Our Future--supporting, respectively, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich--and other committees to file their disclosures with the Federal Election Commission fell at 11:59 p.m. Sunlight's Reporting Group combed through the filings, looking to see who's writing six- and seven-figure checks to the super PACs that are trying to influence voters in the Republican primaries--and beyond. We're also providing a chart tracking super PACs playing in the presidential race where you can download .csv files of their latest FEC filings. If you do, be sure to check our our data notes here.

Not so super PACs

For every high-spending, politically-connected PAC, there are even more PACs that fail to accomplish much of anything. As of January 30, some 300 organizations have written letters to the FEC with their intention of raising unlimited money as a super PAC.

Sunlight on super PACs

It's a big day in politics: Voters in Florida are casting ballots in their hotly contested GOP presidential primary; voters in Oregon's 1st Congressional District are picking a replacement for ex-Rep. David Wu, a Democrat. Here in Washington, we'll be hovering over computer screens and hitting the refresh button in hopes of learning who is trying to influence those contests and beyond.