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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: lobbying

lobbying stories: 58 news summaries

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Puppetmasters

Big Pharma Lobbyists Put Words Into Reps' Mouths

We 'didn't know' where the language came from, reps plead

Nov 15, 09 8:37 AM CST
(Newser) - Yep, that's an echo you hear in the House chamber. The New York Times has obtained emails showing that language drafted by lobbyists working for biotech giant Genentech made it almost unchanged into statements and speeches made on health care—by Democrats and Republicans alike. A Genentech lawyer told staffers,... More »

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health care • lobbying • Genentech • lobbying blitz • House Democrats • pharmaceutical industry • House Republicans

ANALYSIS

Lieberman, Bayh Wives
in Bed with Health Biz

Ties to pharma, insurers  make filibuster threats suspect

Oct 30, 09 9:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - The threats from Sens. Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh to help filibuster any health reform bill with a public option should come as no surprise to anybody familiar with their family finances, writes Joe Conason. Lieberman's wife Hadassah spent 30 years working in the corporate health sector for pharmaceutical firms... More »

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health care • Joe Lieberman • health care industry • lobbying • health care reform • Evan Bayh • WellPoint • public option • Susan Bayh

How Insurers Got Their Way With Reform

Early, sophisticated lobbying effort paid off for health care industry

Oct 26, 09 1:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - Though the final bill is still being hammered out, health reform appears to have given the insurance industry most of its wishes. Everyone will be required to buy insurance, there won’t be any limits on premiums, and any public option will likely be weak. They pulled off these anticipated... More »

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health insurance • lobbying • health care reform • America's Health Insurance Plans

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 »

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

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

 Apple Quits 
 US Chamber, 
 Slams Climate Stance 

Computer giant goes with outward flow over lobbyist's climate position

Oct 6, 09 11:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - Apple has joined a growing list of companies to ditch the US Chamber of Commerce over its skeptical view of climate change. “We strongly object to the Chamber’s recent comments” calling for a “Scopes Monkey Trial for the 21st century” to expose climate change fallacies, says a... More »

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climate change • greenhouse gases • global warming • Apple • lobbyist • lobbying • carbon emissions • Scopes monkey trial • US Chamber of Commerce

Ensign May Have Busted Ethics Rules After Affair

Senator arranged lobbying work for senior aide after having affair with his wife

Oct 2, 09 5:27 AM CDT
(Newser) - Sen. John Ensign says his affair with an aide was a strictly personal matter but he may have trampled on ethics rules and federal criminal law during his efforts at damage control, according to the New York Times. Ensign helped his mistress' husband, Doug Hampton—another senior aide— join a... More »

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ethics • lobbying • Nevada • John Ensign • senator • extramarital affair

OPINION

 Obama's Olympic Lobbying 
 Trip Is Useless Gamble 

Too many actually pressing issues, and what if he goes and Chicago is snubbed?

Sep 28, 09 7:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - Aside from showing love for his adopted hometown, President Obama’s decision to go to Copenhagen to lobby for Chicago as host of the 2016 Summer Olympics is drawing a chorus of boos from the punditocracy as a gamble that could be embarrassing at best—what if, say, Brazil gets... More »

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lobbying • Copenhagen • 2016 Olympics • Chicago Olympics • President Obama • political gamble

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 »

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Congress • campaign finance • campaign funds • lobbying • campaign fundraising • lobbyists

health care reform

How Obama  Wooed and Won the AMA: With a $228B Gift

Plan gives huge concession to doctor's group

Sep 14, 09 11:16 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ever since its cries of “socialized medicine” killed Harry Truman’s attempt to reform health care 60 years ago, the AMA has been not only a vociferous enemy of reform, but a deep-pocketed one—only the Chamber of Commerce has spent more on lobbying over the past decade. But... More »

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Medicare • lobbying • American Medical Association • health care reform • concession

OPINION

Health Care Debate Makes Me Miss Nixon: Krugman

Back in his day, we could get things done

Aug 31, 09 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Paul Krugman is a die-hard liberal, but lately, “I find myself missing Richard Nixon,” he writes in the New York Times. He may have been "the worst person other than Dick Cheney ever to control the executive branch," but his health care reform plan was... More »

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Richard Nixon • lobbying • health care reform • Paul Krugman

Under Obama, It's the 'Summer of the Lobbyist' 

'It Girl' emerges as health, climate, economy converge

Aug 24, 09 12:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama the candidate railed against lobbyists' influence—but under his administration, the Washington movers and shakers are flourishing. With health care reform, the environment, and the economy in focus all at once, it’s the “Summer of the Lobbyist,” writes Manuel Roig-Franzia in the Washington Post. At... More »

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lobbyist • lobbying • Washington, DC • Tony Podesta • Obama administration • John Podesta • President Obama • Heather Podesta

(Newser) - The $1.4 million the plastics industry spent to defeat a grocery bag tax initiative paid off yesterday when Seattle voters defied their green reputation to reject the tax, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The measure would have charged shoppers 20 cents per plastic or paper bag as an incentive to... More »

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plastic bags • environmentalism • Seattle • lobbying • tax policy • voter referendum

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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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

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 »

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Barack Obama • lobbyist • nonprofit • lobbying • lobbyists • Obama administration

 Lawyers Rush In to Grab 
 Work From Lobbyists 

Having fewer restrictions on lawyers' activities attracts clients

Apr 21, 09 10:02 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Obama White House may have toughened rules on lobbyists, but the bonanza of new spending and regulation ushered in by the new administration has created a gold rush of lobbying opportunities, nonetheless, and law firms are horning in on the action, Politico reports. Staffing up with experts who provide... More »

MORE ABOUT:
John Warner • Gordon Smith • lobbying • Washington lobbyists • law firm • Jon Porter

 GM Spends $2.8M on Lobbying 


Apr 21, 09 9:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - General Motors spent $2.8 million on lobbying in this year’s first quarter, even as $13.4 billion in federal loans kept it on life support, the AP reports. That’s down from $3.3 million it spent in 2008’s fourth quarter, but still up from Q3, according... More »

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General Motors • lobbying • auto bailout

(Newser) - The Obama administration’s strict new rules on lobbying—aimed at stopping stereotypical DC weasels from cashing in—are also tripping up do-gooders, the Washington Post reports. Activists who work for non-profits and charities, many of whom registered as lobbyists for reasons of transparency and have a yen to work... More »

MORE ABOUT:
lobbying • political activism • public interest • Obama administration • President Obama • restrictions • White House staff

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