New Earmark Transparency from OMB by March 12

Research Resources

The Revolving Door: Congress and senior congressional staffers spin in and out of the private and public sectors.

Watchdogging 101: Got questions? We have answers.

Congresspedia: The "citizen's encyclopedia on Congress"

Fedspending.org: You have a right to know how the federal government spends its money.

Financial Disclosure: What they make and what they own is public.

Congressional Travel Data: Where do Congress members travel and how often?

Exposing Earmarks

Today's Ethics Watch

For Lawmakers, No More Travels With CELI: The Congressional Economic Leadership Institute is closing today after 20 years of sponsoring trips and lunches for members of Congress. It is a casualty of the new wave of congressional ethics and lobbying restrictions. CELI's board of directors -- made up largely of corporate lobbyists -- voted before Thanksgiving to shutter the organization in anticipation of broad changes that will ban lawmakers and their staffs from accepting travel from organizations that employ lobbyists. (Politico)

Millions wasted in Iraq reconstruction aid: The U.S. government wasted tens of millions of dollars in Iraq reconstruction aid, including scores of unaccounted-for weapons and a never-used camp for housing police trainers with an Olympic-size swimming pool, investigators say. (AP)

The Most Feared Woman on Capitol Hill: If you paid close attention to the media lately, you would have heard many of the politicians who've been drowning in scandal pinning the blame for their problems on one woman -- as if the mere mention of her name would somehow float them to safety. (Ms. Magazine)

Deadline for responses to Justice subpoenas extended: The deadline for House leaders to respond to Justice Department subpoenas sent to three powerful committees late last year has been extended for a second time. The U.S. district court in San Diego sent subpoenas requesting documents related to the bribery case against former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) to the House Appropriations, Armed Services and Intelligence committees late last year. (The Hill)

Rep. Gary Miller☼, in senior perch, is part of FBI probe: After months of GOP ethics scandals, House Republicans chose Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) as the ranking member of a panel charged with investigating financial institutions — even as the FBI was looking into his land deals. Ranking member Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) named Miller to the top GOP spot on the oversight and investigative subcommittee Jan. 9, according to a committee release. (The Hill)

Cutting Risk by Disclosing Political Donations: In politics, it often pays to be ahead of the curve. That holds true for corporate governance too, even more so when politics enter the equation. That is why a small number of the nation's largest corporations have voluntarily agreed to report their share of trade association outlays that go to fund political activities. (Politico)

A Two-Front War Over Lobbying: Members of Congress are trumpeting the steps they've taken to clean up Washington. But behind the scenes, some lobbyists are quietly celebrating. That's because activists who engage in so-called grassroots lobbying campaigns recently scored two major victories. (National Journal)

‘There are going to be weeds to dig through’: It may be a coincidence, perhaps like the correlation between rising carbon dioxide emissions and increasing global temperatures, but K Street’s growth has been accompanied by a sharp increase in the number of congressional earmarks. So this week may be a sad one for K Street, with Democrats poised to pass a spending measure they say won’t include pork, the food lobbyists feed on. Or maybe not. (The Hill)

A deal in the desert for Sen. Reid?: It's hard to buy undeveloped land in booming northern Arizona for $166 an acre. But now-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively did just that when a longtime friend decided to sell property owned by the employee pension fund that he controlled. (Los Angeles Times)

White House to post earmark info online: The White House is heading to the Web in March to publicly post Congress’ earmarks in legislation, according to a new memorandum. The Jan. 25 memo directs departments to catalog earmarks in appropriations and authorization bills and in report language to measure a clear baseline total. President Bush wants to cut that total in half by 2008. (Federal Computer Week)

As Spending Deadline Looms, Congress Debates Earmarks: President Bush told Congress last week that he wants to cut earmarks in half, a popular notion after the $223 million "bridge to nowhere" and other seemingly wasteful projects were tucked into the federal budget by lawmakers. And Democrats now in charge of spending on Capitol Hill say they will not allow those narrow, special-interest provisions when they introduce a resolution this week to fund the federal government for the remaining eight months of the current fiscal year. (Washington Post)

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