Posts by Lindsay Beyerstein

After prodding from President Obama, House Democrats have reversed their earlier position that condoms should be part of a stimulating economic package.
This afternoon, House Dems announced that they’d cut a provision from their version of the stimulus bill that would have made it easier for states to cover family planning services for low-income women, Elana [...]

Spending bailout money to lobby for more bailout money might soon become slightly more difficult.
Incoming Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is expected to announce some new rules tomorrow governing the behavior of lobbyists for financial institutions seeking bailout money under the $700 billion financial rescue plan, according to the The Associated Press:

President Barack Obama has signaled he will not go to bat for birth control in the economic stimulus bill — a move likely to set off a firestorm among powerful forces in the Democratic Party.
Obama has asked House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman  (D-Calif.) to strip a plan to extend birth control coverage [...]

With a new administration, dozens of new members of Congress, billions of dollars in stimulus spending up for grabs, and multiple national crises, 2009 is shaping up to be an intense year for the lobbying industry.
Politico is laying its bets on the biggest upcoming lobbying fights: 1) Gays in the military, 2) Reforming the financial [...]

Even though there’s a new administration in Washington promising broad ethics reforms, it looks like the old way of doing things may still be alive and well in President Obama’s Defense Department.
If appointed, Obama’s nominee for deputy secretary of defense, former Raytheon lobbyist William Lynn, wouldn’t have to recuse himself from decisions involving Raytheon–despite Obama’s [...]

Various interest groups are touting infrastructure investment as a particularly effective economic stimulus strategy because, they claim, such projects can devour money and create jobs quickly, delivering a quick jolt to the economy. But it’s doubtful that the billions of dollars allocated for infrastructure in the economic stimulus package will be spent quickly, despite guidelines [...]

As a new administration comes to power, the lobbying landscape is changing in Washington. Politico has compiled a valuable field guide to the lobby shops that are already “Obama-wired” and likely to get the administration’s attention.
One firm to watch is Heather Podesta and Partners, run by the sister-in-law of Obama’s transition team co-chair, John Podesta. [...]

President Barack Obama promised that his inauguration would be different from those of previous presidents, but change doesn’t come easily when it requires shaking influence in Washington.

Last week, the House Democrats unveiled their version of the $825 billion economic stimulus package.
The proposed bill provides billions of dollars for roads, schools, global warming research, information technology upgrades, food stamps, and unemployment insurance. However, it also allocates more than half a billion dollars for digital-to analog converter box coupons. From the report accompanying [...]

The planned federal economic stimulus package will include billions of dollars for transportation and infrastructure programs, much of which will ultimately be doled out by state and local governments. The ongoing saga of disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich may be an object lesson on the potential pitfalls of that strategy.