Since Democrats took control of the White House and Senate in 2021, there’s been an unprecedented push for voting rights legislation, and lobbying groups are buying in. In the first half of 2021, lobbying groups spent over $151.2 million while lobbying on voting rights and other issues, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of lobbying disclosure filings.
Facebook maintained big lobbying expenses ahead of Senate hearing on teen social media use
Senators from both parties levied criticism against Facebook at a consumer protection subcommittee hearing Thursday. The new scrutiny comes after months of bipartisan legislative talks to limit “Big Tech” and after Facebook spent $9.5 million on federal lobbying in the first half of 2021, the second most of all Big Tech companies.
Yang leverages name recognition, fundraising power to launch Forward Party
A day after leaving the Democratic Party, former Democratic presidential candidate and New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang launched the Forward Party and affiliated PAC Tuesday night. Yang has leveraged his name recognition from his two failed candidacies with impressive fundraising and popular policy ideas to create this latest third party venture.
OpenSecrets issued a comment to the FEC for use during its consideration of a rulemaking proceeding on subvendor disclosure. Requiring disclosure of subvendors would equip voters with the tools necessary to identify which digital platforms have advertising sponsored by political committees while giving political committees and their donors greater insight into what they are paying for
See our media citations from outlets around the nation this week:
Dentists’ Group Fights Plan to Cover Dental Benefits Under Medicare(The Wall Street Journal) Nearly 90% of the $260 million that labor unions spent on the 2020 elections went to benefit Democratic candidates, according to OpenSecrets. The top beneficiary of the spending was President Biden. Unions spent a total of $27.6 million to support his presidential campaign against former President Donald Trump. According to OpenSecrets' data, 98.8% of the amount of money labor unions spent on the 2020 presidential campaign went to help Mr. Biden.
Ban on negotiating Medicare drug prices under pressure(The Washington Post) Amid a furious lobbying and advertising campaign, the AARP, consumer groups, and health insurers are pressing for Medicare negotiations. Business groups and the pharmaceutical industry are opposed. Drug companies have spent $171 million so far this year on lobbying, far above any other industry, according to the watchdog group OpenSecrets.
