Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Financial Bailout: Fannie Mae announces subpoena

Fannie Mae announced <a href="http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/310522/000129993308004533/0001299933-08-004533.txt">today</a> that it's gotten more subpoenas from the SEC and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York:

Financial Bailout: Citigroup purchasing Wachovia

Just curious: Is Citigroup, in purchasing Wachovia and absorbing up to $42 billion in losses, making a good investment? Are they looking at Wachovia's red ink, or is there estimation of the bank's worth based on the notion that its balance sheet will soon be brought into the black co

Financial Bailout: Comparison of plans

Mark Tapscott of the D.C. Examiner posts a comparison of what was in the original plan submitted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and what congressional negotiators have arrived at now.

Financial Bailout: A look at the House GOP negotiators

Continuing the theme of last night's post (and of several prior posts -- just scroll down), we're taking a look at some of the key players in the financial bailout negotiations, looking at their career contributions from and personal interest in the industry. Thanks to Open Secrets, the Web site of the Center for Responsive Politics, all this information is easily accessible online.

Financial Bailout: Deal hammered out?

That's what a series of members are saying on a press conference I happened to tune into a few moments ago -- there's an agreement, but details have to be worked out (including getting it all down on paper).

Financial Bailout: 102 pages and counting

This Associated Press report is a little like the early going of an Eric Ambler thriller: a tantalizing hint of the complexity to come, but very little detail about what the twists and turns will be. The market meltdown measure, which began its life as a 3-page bill, has grown:

Financial Bailout: Who are the big investors?

The data is somewhat out of date -- from the end of 2006 -- but here were the top owners of some of the firms that stand to gain the most from a bailout of the financial system, courtesy of the personal financial disclosure database at the Center for Responsive Politics. Here were the top holders at that time:

Financial Bailout: A Look at Gregg and Blunt

Financial Bailout: Are congressional leaders invested in the crisis?

Members of Congress continue to debate the bailout package that may well affect the bottom line of every taxpayer in the country, as well as those of big banks, brokerages, and other financial firms. While they hear from numerous experts, including distressed Wall Street titans, on the dangers facing their firms, what sort of exposure do members themselves have if those firms fail?

Financial Bailout: Lobbyists' Donations to House Financial Services Committee

The chairs and ranking members of the House Financial Services Committee and its subcommittees have received less from lobbyists hired by financial and investment firms compared with members of the Senate Banking Committee from the eight firms we surveyed. Six of the 12 chairs and ranking members received more than $144,000 in the first six months of this year.

Financial Bailout: Lobbyists' Donations to Senate Banking Members

In-house lobbyists and other major Washington lobbying firms hired by eight investment and securities companies have given Senate Banking Committee members more than $380,000 in campaign donations in the first six months of 2008, according to the LD-203 lobbying disclosures filed with the Senate Office of Public Records.

Financial Bailout: Who do McCain and Obama see at their fundraisers?

Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama are returning to Washington today to lend their legislative talents to the bailout bill working its way through Congress. So let's take a look at the biggest contributors to their presidential campaigns, courtesy of our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics.

Financial Bailout: Who's minding the store?

As Congress begins wrestling with the Bush administration's financial industry bailout legislation (and Sen. Christopher Dodd's alternative), perhaps it's worth asking who are these folks who may well be deciding the economic fate of the nation? In this post (which took me about five hours longer to put together than I'd anticipated; hint to Labs: we need to design a tool to do this stuff faster), we take a look at the Senate Banking Committee and the House Finance Committee. Specifically, we look at how much of the campaign cash raised by members of those committees has come from the industries at the epicenter of the crisis -- finance, insurance and real estate -- over the course of their careers.

Financial Bailout: Who does Frank see at his fundraisers?

Among Rep. Barney Frank's top career donors are employees, their family members and PACs of the following players in the nation's financial meltdown: American Bankers Association (wants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to continue paying dividends, despite going bust), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (which bought Bear Stearns), National Association of Realtors (working to "assure a robust secondary mortgage market"), UBS AG (which hopes the bailout will include foreign banks), Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (hopes Congress will "hastily approve" the administration's plan), Credit Union National Association (members are included in any bailout plan), Bank of America (acquired Merrill Lynch and Countrywide Financial, once the largest mortgage lender in the U.S.), and the Mortgage Bankers Association (opposes efforts to allow bankruptcy judges to alter mortgage terms).