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July 1, 2021

This week in money-in-politics

Education lobbying groups boost spending as Biden administration sets to reverse DeVos-era policies

Education groups have already spent more than $20 million in the first quarter of 2021 lobbying members of Congress for more funding as Education Secretary Miguel Cardona proposes a $102.8 billion education budget. The 2022 fiscal year budget would reverse many Betsy DeVos-era education policies.

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FEC to consider use of campaign funds to pay candidate salaries, health care costs

A coalition of campaign finance reform advocacy groups are teaming up to change how candidates pay their health care expenses and salaries while they’re on the campaign trail.

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Tom Perez’s Maryland run could put fundraising at the forefront of the race

When former Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez launched his Maryland gubernatorial run last week, he also launched what will surely be an expensive fight for the governor’s mansion.

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Business, climate groups split on bipartisan infrastructure deal

A bipartisan group of senators and President Joe Biden announced a compromise infrastructure framework Thursday, which earned praise from leading business groups but drew concern from progressive and environmental groups.

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Secretive ‘dark money’ network launches anti-critical race theory campaign

A deep-pocketed “dark money” group is spending “well over $1 million” on an ad campaign against the inclusion of racial justice topics in K-12 curricula.

The Concord Fund is a conservative dark money group better known as the Judicial Crisis Network. It registered Free to Learn Action as a “fictitious name” — or legal alias — on June 21, the Daily Poster reported Thursday.

Free to Learn’s website does not disclose its relationship with the Concord Fund and describes itself as a “nonpartisan” group dedicated to promoting education without “pressure or requirements to subscribe to a singular worldview and activist curriculum with a political agenda.”

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Count cash and make change as an OpenSecrets intern

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Support investigative journalism serving the public interest.

COVID-19 upended foreign lobbying priorities. Here’s how some countries shifted their U.S. influence campaigns during the pandemic.

As Covid-19 rates soared in 2020, many countries shifted their lobbying priorities, and poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into coronavirus pandemic-related influence campaigns in the United States.

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