About: Suzanne Merkelson
Bio: Suzanne Merkelson is the former Associate Web Editor at United Republic. She previously worked at Foreign Policy magazine, where she was a web producer. She has also interned at The Atlantic and NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook. Suzanne has written for the Chicago Tribune, Foreign Policy and The Atlantic, among others.
A ‘Fast And Furious’ Hypocrisy: Members Behind Holder Contempt Vote Receive Lots Of Campaign Cash From The National Rifle Association
One person who is probably happy about the attention the Supreme Court is getting for its pending Obamacare decision is Attorney General Eric Holder, who, by any measure, is having a really bad week. Later today, the House of Representatives is likely to hold him in contempt of Congress because he has refused to hand
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Money in Politics Lunchtime Links, June 27
New York Times: Inquiry Looks Into a Shield for Donors in Elections Important story on secret money funneled to influence elections by outside groups: “Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York has begun investigating contributions to tax-exempt groups that are heavily involved in political campaigns, focusing on a case involving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has
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How JP Morgan Makes Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars On Food Assistance Programs
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) does a lot to help out low-income American families — 46 million Americans participate in the program, half of whom are children. This means there’s lots of money in SNAP — thanks to the weak economy, SNAP expenditures increased from $30 billion in 2007
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John McCain: Is Romney’s Super PAC Funded With “Foreign Money”?
Maverick, indeed. Despite being a prominent Mitt Romney surrogate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized one of the Republican presidential contender’s super PAC sugar daddies and questioned whether the millions of dollars Adelson is spending on the election is considered “foreign money.” Yesterday, he told PBS’s News Hour: “Much of Mr. Adelson’s casino profits that go
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Obama’s Second Term Agenda: Why Not Focus On Campaign Finance Reform?
Ryan Lizza’s much buzzed about recent piece in The New Yorker investigates what Barack Obama might focus on in a second term. Obama could focus on immigration reform, on clean energy and the environment, on shoring up healthcare reform to future attacks from Republicans, on foreign policy. These are all issues that candidate Obama promised
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We Know One Thing About The 30 Senators Working To Repeal EPA Mercury Safeguards: They’re In The Pocket Of Big Energy
Before June 18, the Senate is expected to vote on a proposal to repeal recently-issued safeguards on mercury and other toxic chemicals released by U.S. power plants. Senator James Inhofe (R-Ok.) claims to have the support of 29 of his colleagues in undoing these Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates — 30 being the magic number
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ALEC Wants Lobbyists (And You) To Help Rearrange The Deck Chairs On The Titanic
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the corporate front group responsible for pushing voter ID and Stand Your Ground laws in states across the country, is on the run. Nearly two dozen major corporations (including Johnson & Johnson, yesterday) have been persuaded to cut ties with ALEC. ALEC is fighting back — and the group
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INFOGRAPHIC: Fattening Kids And Lobbyist Wallets
Child health advocates are losing the war over school lunches and that’s because they face exceptionally strong adversaries: the food and beverage industry. While it’s pretty obvious that more vegetables and less sugar at lunch would be a good start to healthier kids, we’ve recently seen Congress declare pizza a vegetable and kill a plan
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