By now, most Americans realize that Big Money is a powerful force in American politics. Members of Congress often shy away from regulating an industry that showers them with campaign donations. Members will rush to vote for massive subsidies and giveaways to big donors. One senator who has been mostly unmoved by the presence of this
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Bad actors in the for-profit education industry — leading for-profit colleges, private charter schools, and other education profiteers — are accelerating a profitable scam: online education. As my colleague Lee Fang documented in a cover story for The Nation last year, these “online learning” companies have infiltrated American schools, extracting millions of dollars for software
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Americans everywhere are waking up to the corrupting influence of Big Money on our democratic form of government. Activists are holding rallies, signing petitions, getting city resolutions passed against Citizens United, and taking part in other activities designed to push for major reforms to our system. But that’s not the only way Americans are challenging
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One way Big Money gets its way is by covering its tracks when it influences our government. Many local and city governments, for example, have very weak lobbying laws so it’s almost impossible to know who is influencing your local council member. The city of Galveston, Texas took a stand against that last week, passing
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It’s simple common sense that pollution is a bad thing. We all know that breathing dirtier air, drinking less clean water, and having an unsanitary environment is bad for human beings. But did you know that American taxpayers spend over $10 billion a year subsidizing it? Last week, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Sen. Bernie
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The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a powerful corporate front group that works to pass Big Business-written laws in state legislatures. Following the outcry over the group pushing “Stand Your Ground” laws, at least fifteen major corporations, foundations, and other organizations have decided to end their funding commitments to ALEC. But ALEC has another way of
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The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the most powerful corporate front group you’ve never heard of ,or at least until more than a dozen major corporations recently quit in the wake of the controversies over it pushing the “Stand Your Ground” laws. ALEC lets corporations write model legislation that it then secretly ships to state legislatures
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When you’re a lobbyist, you’ve got to find all sorts of ways to influence Congress. Last Thursday, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) found a quirky way to lobby about the benefits of chlorine — hold an ice cream social in the Rayburn House Office Building by the U.S. Capitol. We were there. Because Congress was officially
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