About: Lee Fang
Bio: Lee Fang is a reporter for The Intercept. He has a longstanding interest in how public policy is influenced by organized interest groups and money. He was the first to uncover and detail the role of the billionaire Koch brothers in financing the Tea Party movement. His interviews and research on the Koch brothers have been featured on HBO’s “The Newsroom,” the documentaries “Merchants of Doubt” and “Citizen Koch,” as well as in multiple media outlets. He was an investigative blogger for ThinkProgress (2009-2011) and then a fellow at the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute and contributing writer for The Nation. In 2012, he co-founded RepublicReport.org, a blog to cover political corruption that syndicates content with TheNation.com, Salon, National Memo, BillMoyers.com, TruthOut, and other media outlets. His work has been published by VICE, The Baffler, The Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Progressive, NPR, In These Times, and The Huffington Post. His first book, “The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right,” published by The New Press, explores how the conservative right rebuilt the Republican Party and its political clout in the aftermath of President Obama’s 2008 election victory. He is based in San Francisco.
Military Industry Lobbyists Manufacture Fake Tea Party Outrage Against Cutting Defense Pork
Military industry lobbyists are using the Tea Party as props to fight back against defense cuts. Companies that benefit from tens of billions of taxpayer dollars, many of which are for unnecessary and wasteful programs, are attempting to co-opt political support as they desperately try to maintain their pork barrel contracts. Take, for example, the
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As Latinos Suffer From High Student Debt, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Goes Golfing With Sallie Mae
On Monday, Latino members of Congress held their annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus fundraising event at a golf course near Andrews Air Force Base. The caucus serves as a forum for Latino members of both the House and the Senate, but often functions as an avenue for corporate lobbyists to funnel cash to lawmakers under the
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Why Are Student Loan Interest Rates Set To Double? Thank These Lobbyists Who Helped Kill The Bill Yesterday
On Tuesday afternoon, Senate Republicans blocked a measure that would have prevented a big hike for student loan interest rates. The legislation would have kept “subsidized Stafford loans at 3.4 percent for an additional year, rather than doubling automatically for new loans starting July 1.” While the vote yesterday was certainly a partisan battle, a
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Lugar Loses: Will He Join The Ranks Of Indiana Senators-Turned-Lobbyists?
Last night, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), the longest serving GOP member of the U.S. Senate, lost his primary election to Richard Mourdock. Though it’s possible Lugar may mount an independent bid for the general election, many prognosticators have already said that his elected career is probably over. (Although Lugar has been compared to Lisa Murkowski’s
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Bank Lobbyists Coordinated “Tea Party” Challenge To Senator Lugar To Punish Him For Voting Against Wall Street
After years of bipartisan policymaking, veteran lawmaker Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) is expected to go down in defeat in his primary election today. With the likely defeat of Lugar, political observers are sure to start speculating over the meaning of the election. Is it a rebound for the Tea Party? Is bipartisanship dead? Was Richard
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Japanese-Owned Corporation Donates To Super PAC Active In Indiana’s Senate Race Today
Today, Indiana voters will go to the polls to decide the political fate of Senator Dick Lugar. The Republican primary, as many observers have noted, has been rocked by the influence of outside spending groups. Richard Mourdock, Lugar’s right-wing opponent, has been boosted by some $3 million in outside spending by gun industry groups and
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Corruption Accounts For As Much As 14 Dollars Out Of Every Tank Of Gas
You pay a hidden premium every time they fill up your gas tank. The prices are high at the gas station, but part of the price you pay is directly caused by commodity speculators. And you can thank lobbyists for why the government has been unable to do anything to solve the problem. Over the
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Sen. Scott Brown Took Credit For Watered Down STOCK Act, But New Disclosures Show Brown’s Top Bundler Lobbied To Weaken It
Republic Report has been highly criticalof the watering down of the STOCK Act, the recently enacted law to curb insider trading in Congress. New disclosures show that a group of well-connected lobbyists helped weaken the bill. Senators talked a good game about reform, but managed to water down the legislation so much so that it
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