Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: lobbyists

lobbyists stories: 60 news summaries

1 - 20 of 60 Stories | 1 2 3 Next >>

Switch to grid view »

Soda Tax
Threat a Boon for Food Lobbyists

Industry pours millions into fight against it

Nov 5, 09 12:25 PM CST
(Newser) - Capitol Hill’s flirtation with a national excise tax on sugary drinks has been good for someone: food lobbyists. Soda makers, supermarkets, and fast-food restaurants have spent more than $24 million fighting the tax, the Huffington Post reports. “We are reacting to the situation we find ourselves in,"... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Pepsi • lobbyist • fast food industry • lobbyists • advertising campaign • Coca-Cola Co • soda tax • Americans Against Food Taxes

Drug Makers' Big Spending Pays Off on Hill

Biologics debate shows how lobbyists shape health debate

Oct 22, 09 12:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Drugmakers could get quite a gift from the health care reform bill. Senate and House amendments passed this summer give the makers of biologics—next-generation wonder drugs derived from living matter—12 years of exclusivity on their hyperexpensive products. That’s 7 more years than normal drugs get, and critics... More »

MORE ABOUT:
biotechnology • Senate Health Committee • lobbying • lobbyists • health care reform • House Energy and Commerce Committee • biotech companies • biologics

Obama Tries to Hobble Chamber of Commerce

Conservative business group now 'radioactive' in Washington

Oct 19, 09 8:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Obama administration is deliberately freezing out a US Chamber of Commerce seemingly chilly to its entire agenda. White House officials have pointedly ignored the Chamber, speaking instead directly with the CEOs of its member companies. “We prefer the approach where the actual people who are on the front... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • Barack Obama • cap and trade • lobbyists • Obama administration • US Chamber of Commerce

sausage and politics

Dems Helped Shape Health Industry Ad Campaign

Meeting raises questions about ties to big business

Oct 16, 09 11:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Aides to President Obama and Max Baucus met with a variety of lobbyists for corporate health care companies on April 15, to help form two industry coalitions and launch a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, Politico has learned. Though both sides insist no quid pro quo was laid out, some participants say... More »

MORE ABOUT:
ethics • Barack Obama • advertising • pharma • health care industry • lobbying • lobbyists • health care reform • Max Baucus • special interests • US Senate • Obama administration • President Obama

Lobbyists Deal Death Blows to Health Care Cost Cuts

Having KO'd most cuts, they're aiming at Cadillac tax and Medicare commission

Oct 11, 09 6:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Who's winning the health care battle? Lobbyists, says the New York Times, who've succeeded in blocking virtually every avenue for cutting health care costs that has been put on the table. They've killed proposals that would pinch doctors, hospitals, insurers and employees who are the beneficiaries of so-called Cadillac health... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Nancy Pelosi • hospitals • White House • lobbyists • health care reform • Jay Rockefeller • Max Baucus • health insurers • doctors

Pols-Turned-Lobbyists Use Campaign Cash to Curry Favor

Turn donations into 'political slush fund'

Sep 21, 09 9:21 AM CDT
(Newser) - When congressmen leave Capitol Hill for lobbying jobs, they take their unused campaign funds with them, then dole them out to other lawmakers to influence policy, USA Today reports. Such donations are legal—federal law permits ex-congressmen to keep campaign accounts active, donating the money to candidates, parties, and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Congress • campaign finance • campaign funds • lobbying • campaign fundraising • lobbyists

 Calif. Pol Quits 
 After Boast of 
 Spanking Sex 
 With Lobbyist 

One utility company lobbyist was a 'bad girl,' assemblyman leered over hot mike

Sep 10, 09 2:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - Some lobbyists will apparently do anything for work. A California assemblyman and family-values crusader has quit after boasting about spanking sex with a utility company lobbyist and "hot" sex with another. He went into graphic detail over a broadcast mike he didn't realize was live, reports the Los Angeles ... More »

MORE ABOUT:
California • Sacramento • sex • lobbyist • family values • lobbyists • politician • Yorba Linda • assemblyman • marital infidelity

Industry Ponies Up for Climate Change Fight

Environmentalists appear ill-prepared as issue heads to Senate

Aug 31, 09 9:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - When the oil and coal lobbies came to Athens, Ohio, they held rallies full of screaming supporters, sponsored free lunches and free concerts, and gave away T-shirts praising coal power. When the environmentalists came to Athens, they held a sedate panel discussion and handed out stickers. Environmentalists seem ill-equipped for... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • cap and trade • lobbyists • lobbying blitz • energy bill

(Newser) - Regardless of how health-care reform eventually shakes out, one industry will likely reap a windfall: health insurance companies, reports the Los Angeles Times. All the leading overhaul proposals would require all citizens to have health insurance, which would guarantee tens of millions of new customers. "It's a bonanza,"... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health insurance • legislation • lobbyists • health care reform • benefits • Washington lobbyists • President Obama • health insurance industry

(Newser) - The Blue Dogs—the 52 fiscally conservative Democrats who have been fighting to kill health care reform proposals the industry doesn’t like—receive far more money from that industry than their non-coalition-member counterparts, the Washington Post reports. The reform push has been a boon for the lawmakers' ledgers;... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care • Arkansas • House of Representatives • health care industry • lobbyists • health care reform • Mike Ross • House Democrats • special interests • moderate • insurance industry • Blue Dog Democrats • Blue Dog Coalition

(Newser) - Powerful special interests are killing health-care reform, which is par for the course in Congress, writes Joe Klein of Time. “We’ve gotten rusty at legislating,” says one Tennessee Democrat. That’s overly kind, Klein retorts. The only bills that pass these days are essentials like budgets... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Congress • earmarks • budget • lobbyists • health care reform • special interests • Joe Klein • President Obama • Mancur Olson

Ex-Lawmakers Lobby Hard for Health Industry

Medical interests shelling out $1.4M
a day to limit reform

Jul 6, 09 9:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - The health care industry is making a record-breaking lobbying push to shape and soften health care reform, the Washington Post reports, laying out $1.4 million a day on an army of some 350 former Capitol Hill staffers and members of Congress. Three of every four health care lobbying... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care • politics • lobbying • lobbyists • health care reform • Max Baucus • PhRMA

Democrats Dodge Obama's Lobbyist Ban

Money unwelcome at dinner with prez, OK
at meeting tomorrow

Jun 18, 09 10:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Congressional Democrats have found a way around President Obama’s refusal to appear at events where lobbyists can make campaign contributions, Politico reports. Lobbyists won’t be able to donate at tonight’s fundraiser with Obama, but they’ll be more than welcome to do so tomorrow morning, at a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • fundraiser • lobbying • campaign fundraising • lobbyists • congressional Democrats • President Obama

 Spending on 
 Health Care 
 Lobbying Up 41% 

Drug, insurance companies oppose public insurance

Jun 12, 09 11:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - As the health care debate heats up in Washington, insurance and drug companies are keeping their lobbyists busy. So far this year, those industries have increased their lobbyist spending by 41% as they fight a proposed public insurance plan, USA Today reports. That's $35 million in the first quarter for... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Congress • insurance companies • Washington DC • Merck • drug companies • lobbying • lobbyists • health care reform • public insurance

OPINION

 Soda Tax Makes Good Sense 


May 20, 09 10:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - The soda tax is a great idea, and its probable death at the hands of lobbyists serves to highlight all the problems with our tax system, writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times. The current system doesn’t raise enough money, and it’s “complex in all the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
obesity • health care costs • taxes • diabetes • public health • soda • sugar • lobbyists • corn syrup • soda tax

analysis

 100 Days: 
 Biggest Promises Kept, Broken 

The economy has changed the stakes since the campaign began

Apr 29, 09 8:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - One way to judge President Obama's first 100 days in office is to look at his rhetoric on the campaign trail. Taking into account the fallout from the economic crisis, PolitFact came up with the most crucial promises Obama has kept and broken. His vow to beef up alternative-energy investment... More »

MORE ABOUT:
presidency • alternative energy • renewable energy • lobbyists • economic stimulus package • President Obama • 100 days • campaign promises

Feds May Drop Case Against Lobbyists in Harman Flap

Move unrelated to scandal, they say

Apr 21, 09 7:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Federal prosecutors may drop charges against two pro-Israeli lobbyists at the center of a wiretapping scandal involving a member of Congress, the Washington Post reports. The feds say the possible move has nothing to do with the scandal involving Rep. Jane Harman. Instead, a series of recent court decisions in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Israel • espionage • Jane Harman • lobbyists • AIPAC • Steven Rosen • Keith Weissman

Nonprofit Lobbyists Want Obama to Let Them In

White House ban bars experts, policy suffers

Apr 21, 09 1:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nonprofit groups have launched a new campaign on behalf of their own lobbyists, the New York Times reports. Barack Obama’s current anti-lobbying rules don’t make any distinction between corporate influence peddlers and public interest advocates; all are barred from administration jobs. Case in point: Tom Malinowski, the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • lobbyist • nonprofit • lobbying • lobbyists • Obama administration

(Newser) - In his address to Congress, President Obama made it clear certain industries are in his crosshairs, from agribusiness to defense to health care. But those industries aren’t taking it lying down, the Wall Street Journal reports. They’re spending big on lobbyists, hoping to derail—or at least reshape—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • agriculture • Boeing • health care industry • lobbying • lobbyists • defense spending • utilities • Obama administration • President Obama

 Lobbyists 
 Lard Up 
 Senate 
 Stimulus 

Tax benefits for ag, pharmaceuticals inserted into bill

Feb 3, 09 10:28 AM CST
(Newser) - With the Senate debate on its stimulus bill cranking up today, interest groups are scrambling to extract their pound of flesh. The Wall Street Journal reports that lobbyists have already helped swell the total to $885 billion, in many cases with small changes in wording and technical definitions. For example,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Congress • Senate • lobbyists • economic stimulus package

1 - 20 of 60 Stories | 1 2 3 Next >>


from our news partners