About: Zaid Jilani


Bio: Zaid Jilani is a reporter for The Intercept. He is the former Communications and Outreach Coordinator for United Republic and the former Senior Reporter-Blogger for ThinkProgress. His work has also appeared in outlets including Salon and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2009 and moved shortly after to Washington to work to make America a more just and free place.

May 19, 2012

Goldman Sachs Is Paying Dick Gephardt’s Lobbying Firm To Weaken Financial Regulations

Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi released a new article last week where he laid out how Wall Street is at work undermining the toughest provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law passed last year. Taibbi writes: The fate of Dodd-Frank over the past two years is an object lesson in the government’s inability to institute even
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May 18, 2012

11 More Democratic Legislators Leave ALEC

We’ve just received word from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee — which has been campaigning to get Democratic Party lawmakers to quit the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — that an additional eleven Democrats have now left the corporate front group . Here are the eleven who have announced they will be leaving: – 8 Pennsylvannia legislators: Sen.
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May 18, 2012

Marijuana Advocates Spend Big And Defeat Drug War Proponent In Oregon

As we’ve covered before at Republic Report, one of the reasons why marijuana remains illegal and the drug war continues to rage is because special interest groups like police unions and the alcohol industry spend a lot of money to lobby for the drug war. In Oregon, advocates of medical marijuana and other anti-drug war
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May 18, 2012

VIDEO: Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Refuses To Talk About His Lobbying For Scam Schools

In many places, being the leader of a chapter of a political party is an honor. It’s a position that you can use to advance your party’s values and goals. But Virginia Democratic Party chairman Brian Moran — brother of Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) — is using his clout in a different way. In addition
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May 17, 2012

Drugmakers Spent Record Amount Lobbying In Kentucky To Weaken Anti-Meth Bill

As we reported back in February, the over-the-counter drug association known as the Consumer Health Products Association (CHPA) spent $194,000 in January alone to battle legislation that would require a prescription for certain cold medicines so as to combat the spread of ingredients commonly used to make methmethamphetamines. The bill was eventually watered down after
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May 16, 2012

Inhofe Staffer Asks Oil Lobbyists For ‘Better Coordination And Communication’

National Journal has obtained an e-mail sent from Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) staffer David Banks to two dozen oil lobbyists where he asks for more support from the industry on policy. Here’s the crucial passage: Moving forward, we—your partners—would kindly ask for better coordination and communication from you to prevent the Obama administration from pulling
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May 16, 2012

Corruption Is The Reason Why You’re Not Guaranteed Paid Sick Leave

The United States is the only developed nation that does not require employers to give their employees paid sick leave. For many Americans, that means choosing between their pay and their health — a devil’s choice if there ever was one. Philadelphia’s Claudia Rendon had to face that choice late last year. She was fired
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May 15, 2012

AIPAC’s Lobbyists Pushing Bill Today That Could Make U.S. War With Iran More Likely

Today, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on House Resolution 568. At first glance, the bill seems to be fairly routine, in that it says it is to express “the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the importance of preventing the Government of Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.” But dig a
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