Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

D.C. insider, Sen. Portman, another possible pick for “Super Congress”

Hybrid committee is both Super PAC, traditional PAC

A new type of Super PAC has filed registration papers with the Federal Election Commission, saying it plans both to accept unlimited contributions for independent expenditures and, using a separate bank account, to take in limited donations to be used for direct contributions to candidates.

Suspicions of mortgage fraud on the rise

In 2006 and 2007, at least 12 Riverside, Calif., residents with good credit found a real estate investment that seemed too good to be true. All they had to do was fill out a few forms and in return they could expect to receive checks of up to $50,000. The only problem was, the plan was a sham.

“Super Congress”: industry ties to some possible picks

With President Obama’s signature on the bill to raise the debt ceiling, congressional leaders now have 14 days to select the lawmakers who will quickly become the most lobbied politicians in town: the “Super Congress” of twelve lawmakers, six Democrats and six Republicans from both chambers who will be charged with the task of finding $1.5 trillion in cuts or revenue to lower the deficit. Nobody knows yet who will take on this task, but it’s a sure bet that whoever it is will already be in debt themselves -- to the lobbyists and industries who fund their campaigns and who have a huge stake in the outcome of the deal. That debt will only grow bigger as monied interests use all the tricks of their trade to influence the deal.

Postponed! -- Sunlight Live to cover House Hearing on Energy Tax Policy, Tax Reform on Wednesday

Editor's note: This hearing has been indefinitely postponed. Once we have a new date, we'll be sure to cover it live. Until then, mark your calendars for August 11, when we'll cover the next Republican presidential debate, this one from Iowa.

Super PACs raise a combined $26 million in first half of year

Six months in to the first full election cycle in which Super PACs will play a role, the groups have combined to raise more than $26 million and are entering the second half of the year with about $23 million on hand.

Dodd-Frank: How investment banks contributed to the financial crisis

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed in response to the financial crisis of 2008, added new regulations and new regulators for some—but not all—of the institutions whose actions led to the crisis. Over the next several days, we’ll be taking a look at each of the major groups of contributors to the economic crisis, who the major players were, what political influence they brought to bear on Congress and regulators, how Dodd-Frank intends to regulate them, and, using our new Dodd-Frank Meeting Logs tool, what rules these groups are trying to influence as agencies implement the legislation.

Vendor blamed in outage paid $1.4 million last year for services

Fireside21, a web services company fingered as a possible culprit behind the mass outage of congressional sites in the wake of Monday's televised presidential address, received over $1.4 million from House offices for web services last year, disbursement data shows. The total highlights the dominance of just a few companies providing congressional web services, a category in which five companies received 79 percent of the $5.5 million pie.

Sunlight Live bets it all with casino hearing

New Sunlight Health App points to problems at an Illinois nursing home

On October 19, 2010, a Rockford, Illinois man was admitted to a local hospital. Emergency room staff found seven large bed sores on his body; some spanned several inches and had advanced to stage IV, the most severe. One wound, according to emergency room notes, was infected and covered his entire tailbone.

Special interests lobby on the debt ceiling

As Congress and the White House continue to search for a mechanism to raise the debt ceiling (the Senate "gang of six" have offered a new plan to end the deadlock), some of the biggest spending-special interests in the country are weighing in on the issue, according to a search of new lobbying disclosure records that are being released today.

Sunlight Live to cover Dodd-Frank anniversary hearing

This Thursday, one year after the president signed a sweeping new financial reform bill into law, the Senate Banking Committee will ask tough questions of regulators in charge of making it real. And Sunlight will cover it live.

Lobbyists swarm agencies as Dodd-Frank is implemented

Throughout the last Congress, which adopted far-reaching reforms of the financial sector through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, there were an average of 577 clients lobbying on issues related to the act. Eventually some 1,172 clients—including banks, ratings agencies, investment banks, securities firms and a host of other interests with a stake in the legislation—listed Dodd-Frank or related issues on their lobbying disclosure forms. And in 2011, lobbyists for some 488 clients are still lobbying on the bill, according to the most recent data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Bills designed to alter or repeal Dodd-Frank

When Republicans took over the House after the mid-term elections in 2010, one of the first things on the agenda for some members was to alter or repeal the sweeping financial reform passed by the previous Congress.