[[link removed]] August 9, 2024
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Koch network’s flagship super PAC pours big money into 2024 elections
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The Koch network’s flagship group, Americans for Prosperity, has spent two decades pouring money into influencing U.S. elections. As the group celebrates its 20-year anniversary, its hybrid super PAC ranks third in outside spending in the 2024 cycle.
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Major fintech companies ramp up 2024 lobbying spending
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Many companies in the fintech space set new lobbying records in the first two quarters of 2024. From peer-to-peer money transfer apps — apps that let users borrow from their next paycheck — to “neobanks,” lobbying spending is up, and details on why are scant.
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House Republicans’ congressional offices spent millions more on taxpayer-funded travel than Democrats since 2023
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House Republicans outspent their Democratic counterparts in taxpayer-funded travel expenditures by nearly $8 million since the start of 2023, a new OpenSecrets analysis found.
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Chart of the Week
Dive deeper into the data behind the headlines
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What to Know
Eight out of the top 10 biggest spenders between the start of 2023 to March 2024 were Republican members of Congress with each of the top spenders spending two to five times more than the average House office.
By the Numbers
The total travel spending reported by House Republicans’ offices exceeded $23 million from January 2023 to March 2024 — nearly $8 million more than House Democrats spent on travel during the same period. Despite having only a seven-member majority, House Republicans have significantly outspent Democrats. Congressional offices of House Republicans spent around $102,000 on average for travel during that period, while the average spent by House Democrats sat around $70,000, according to the House Statement of Disbursements.
Dig Deeper
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) is the third-highest spender on congressional office travel from 2023 to 2024. From 2011 to 2019, he spent more on travel than most House Republicans, with nearly $1 million in taxpayer dollars used for trips between 2016 and 2022, according to CNN. Gosar’s travel spending has attracted scrutiny for lack of disclosure when using taxpayer dollars for travel.
The Senior Director of Ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, Kedric Payne, believes the lack of transparency in House disbursement reports causes an even bigger issue.
“The lack of details in published travel records makes it nearly impossible to see who is complying with the law,” Payne told OpenSecrets. He emphasized that “voters have a right to know whether public officials are misusing public funds.”
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Upcoming Events:
IRE Announces AccessFest 2024
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AccessFest is IRE’s annual virtual-by-design conference. The two-and-a-half-day event will take place online, October 17-19, 2024.
AccessFest focuses on expanding IRE’s efforts to provide more accessible training centered on belonging, equity, and inclusion in the newsroom and through better news coverage of inequities in the communities journalists serve.
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OpenSecrets in the News
See our media citations from outlets around the nation this week:
Nvidia Scrambles for a Response to Antitrust Scrutiny (The New York Times) [[link removed]]
The Justice Department has started investigating Nvidia’s sales practices and will review one of the company’s most recent acquisitions. As government scrutiny of its business has increased, Nvidia has been slowly building its presence in Washington. It has seven lobbyists working on its behalf, according to OpenSecrets, a government transparency group. Much of their focus has been on responding to the Biden administration’s crackdown on chip sales to China, which last year accounted for 17 percent of the company’s $60.9 billion in sales.
What to know about Wesley Bell and his win over ‘Squad’ member Cori Bush (Washington Post) [[link removed]]
Wesley Bell, the St. Louis county prosecutor, unseated Rep. Cori Bush in the Missouri 1st Congressional District’s Democratic primary. By the end of June, Bell had four times as much cash on hand as Bush. Outside groups — mostly the pro-Israel lobby, opposed to her pro-Palestinian views — spent more than $12 million in ads that attacked Bush and supported Bell, according to Washington nonprofit OpenSecrets.
Trump’s tech backers are ‘making a big mistake,’ Sequoia’s Mike Moritz says (CNBC) [[link removed]]
As leading tech investors continue to vocally take sides ahead of the 2024 presidential election, legendary venture capitalist Michael Moritz is making his preference clear. Moritz wrote in his op-ed that Trump’s tech financiers and supporters were “making the same mistake as all powerful people who back authoritarians.” He wrote that wealthy financiers believe “they will be able to control Trump,” or else are committing “another cardinal error: deluding themselves that he will not do what he says or promises.” Moritz's Republican giving included earlier support for Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he was governor of California, Mitt Romney in 2007, and John Kasich’s 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial runs in Ohio, according to OpenSecrets.
Banks are restricting employees from donating to the Harris-Walz campaign. Here's why. (Business Insider) [[link removed].]
18 primaries to watch in Missouri, Michigan, Washington and Kansas (ABC News) [[link removed]]
Why Kamala Harris’s fundraising spree might prove more valuable than Trump’s (Vox) [[link removed]]
[[link removed]] [[link removed]'s%20close%20ties%20to,planet%2C%20environmental%20advocates%20have%20warned.] [[link removed]] A Tsunami of Right-Wing Dark Money Is Barreling Toward Harris and Walz (The New Republic) [[link removed]]
[[link removed]] [[link removed]] [[link removed]] Meet the 11 private equity donors trying to buy the 2024 election (RawStory) [[link removed]] [[link removed]]
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