http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/ en Copyright 2010 2010-06-29T15:08:21+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/first-quarter-lobbying-reports-millions-spent-to-influence-congress/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/first-quarter-lobbying-reports-millions-spent-to-influence-congress/ Health care, energy, defense, and financial services sectors spend millions to lobby Congress. 2010-06-29T14:08:21+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/the-next-few-weeks/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/the-next-few-weeks/ I'll be offline for the next few weeks as I take some time away with my family. But while I'm away, the work of Change Congress will continue. 2010-06-28T16:46:49+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/lessig-in-north-carolina-day-1-in-raleigh/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/lessig-in-north-carolina-day-1-in-raleigh/ Didn't get to see Lawrence Lessig in Raleigh yesterday? Recap and pictures of the events after the jump. 2010-06-23T16:22:32+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/disclose-act-were-making-a-difference/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/disclose-act-were-making-a-difference/ Earlier this week, we joined over fifty other organizations in opposition to the DISCLOSE Act. In a letter sent to Speaker Pelosi, we expressed our concern over the exemptions that were added after pressure from select special interest groups. Download the letter after the jump. 2010-06-19T13:52:05+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/join-lawrence-lessig-in-north-carolina/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/join-lawrence-lessig-in-north-carolina/ Lawrence Lessig is coming to Raleigh next week, and you're invited to come hear him speak. 2010-06-19T13:38:50+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/influence-of-special-interests-in-congress-weakens-the-disclose-act/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/influence-of-special-interests-in-congress-weakens-the-disclose-act/ Congress has had a hard time reigning in the influence of special interest money in Congress. This influence has now compromised the DISCLOSE Act. 2010-06-18T19:49:05+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/donations-made-before-key-financial-vote-prompt-ethics-investigation/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/donations-made-before-key-financial-vote-prompt-ethics-investigation/ The Office of Congressional Ethics recently launched an investigation calling into question the timing of campaign donations to eight key members of the House Financial Services and Ways and Means committees. Of these eight, three held fundraisers just days before the December 11th House vote on the financial regulation reform bill. 2010-06-17T19:10:24+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/adding-pathetic-to-puny/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/adding-pathetic-to-puny/ Today's piece in the Huffington Post on why we're joining others to oppose the DISCLOSE Act 2010-06-17T14:41:51+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/take-action/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/take-action/ The latest from CallaConvention.org, Change Congress' project to amend the Constitution. 2010-06-15T12:49:12+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/my-testimony/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/my-testimony/ The latest from CallaConvention.org, Change Congress' project to amend the Constitution. 2010-06-14T17:47:24+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/supreme-court-blocks-clean-and-fair-elections-in-arizona/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/supreme-court-blocks-clean-and-fair-elections-in-arizona/ On Tuesday, the Supreme Court again sided with corporations and lobbyists over voters by blocking Arizona's decade old clean elections law. 2010-06-09T18:47:23+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/join-me-in-providence/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/join-me-in-providence/ The latest from CallaConvention.org, Change Congress's project to amend the Constitution 2010-06-01T15:51:25+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/lobbyists-continue-to-weaken-financial-reform-bill/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/lobbyists-continue-to-weaken-financial-reform-bill/ The banking and credit industries' assault on the Financial Reform bill is rolling on as an army of lobbyists presses Senators to vote in their favor. Their latest victory: a 35–60 defeat of an amendment that would have allowed states to cap interest rates to protect their citizens from usurious creditors. 2010-05-26T12:00:19+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/join-me-in-new-hampshire/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/join-me-in-new-hampshire/ This Thursday I am giving a lecture at Dartmouth College, and I wanted to invite you to attend. 2010-05-24T20:08:40+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/congress-says-goodbye-to-2-million/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/congress-says-goodbye-to-2-million/ After just one week, people all across the country have promised to withhold nearly $2 million from Congress members who refuse to support the Fair Elections Now Act. 2010-05-20T16:26:57+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/support-reform-receive-half-as-much-money-from-mortgage-industry/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/support-reform-receive-half-as-much-money-from-mortgage-industry/ Yesterday, MAPLight.org reported that five Senate Republicans who supported a measure to end predatory loan practices received half as much money from the mortgage brokerage industry as party members who refused to back the measure. 2010-05-14T19:45:20+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/today-we-launch-the-funders-pledge/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/today-we-launch-the-funders-pledge/ Today, FixCongressFirst.org is launching an effort to build the biggest lobby in the history of American politics—one that will beat out Exxon Mobile, SEIU, and the NRA for influence and remake Washington in its own image. Who are these shadowy powerbrokers going to be, exactly? You and me—we the people. 2010-05-12T14:48:47+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/tonight-casino-jack-panel/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/tonight-casino-jack-panel/ Tonight at 9pm Eastern, Change Congress member Mark McKinnon will be joining other experts on a panel to discuss the new film Casino Jack, that tells the story of Jack Abramoff and the economy of influence in Washington, D.C. You can watch the livestream here, after the jump.... 2010-05-04T15:52:54+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/this-is-exactly-why-we-need-to-change-congress/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/this-is-exactly-why-we-need-to-change-congress/ Scott Brown, Massachusetts' new senator, opposes legislation in Congress that would strengthen regulations for Wall Street. But when a reporter recently asked him why he's against this bill, Brown couldn't give an answer. He's against financial reform, but he has no idea why. 2010-04-27T00:31:12+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/we-need-your-vote/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/we-need-your-vote/ Change Congress has been named a 2010 Working Assets/CREDO donations recipient. We need your vote to make sure we get the funding we need! 2010-04-21T13:27:20+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/how-to-sober-up-washington1/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/how-to-sober-up-washington1/ The latest from CallaConvention.org, Change Congress's project to amend the Constitution 2010-04-19T14:54:51+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/the-moment/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/the-moment/ President Obama will savor, and rightly so, his extraordinary achievement in enacting fundamental health care reform. He has done something few thought possible, and he may well have revived the enormous faith that his election gave millions. But we should not miss the lesson in this fight. Nor the opportunity to rally this rebounded presidency to its real potential for reform. 2010-03-23T12:56:38+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/citizens-unite/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/citizens-unite/ Change Congress founder Lawrence Lessig has an article at TNR.com, titled "Citizens Unite." 2010-03-17T11:57:13+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/systemic-denial/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/systemic-denial/ We need to admit our (democracy's) problem. We need to get beyond this stage of denial. We need to recognize that until we release our leaders from a system that forces them to ignore good sense when there is an opportunity for large campaign cash, we won't have policy that makes sense. Wall Street continues unchanged because the Congress that would change it is already shuttling to Wall Street fundraisers. Both parties are already pandering to this power, so they can find the fix to fund the next cycle of campaigns. 2010-03-05T16:14:59+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/a-choice-you-wont-get-anywhere-else/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/a-choice-you-wont-get-anywhere-else/ I hate feeling that someone is pretending to talk to me when they're really asking me for money. I hate feeling that the only reason I'm receiving an email from some organization is because they hope I'm going to click the "DONATE NOW" button. Maybe you're different. Maybe you like being asked for money. But if you're like me, read on. 2010-02-26T15:29:56+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/a-dose-of-realism-how-about-this-for-realism-we-need-leadership/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/a-dose-of-realism-how-about-this-for-realism-we-need-leadership/ Larry Tribe criticizes my February 15 post, which itself had criticized the Democratic Leadership's planned response to Citizens United as not good enough. He agrees that the Leadership's response is "incomplete," but, he argues, it at least has "the virtue of being potentially attainable." More importantly, he believes that the key provisions of the Leadership's proposal are not necessarily unconstitutional. As he writes... 2010-02-17T20:53:12+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/lawrence-lessig-on-bloggingheads/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/lawrence-lessig-on-bloggingheads/ Change Congress founder Lawrence Lessig appeared on Bloggingheads.tv with the Washington Post's Ezra Klein to discuss reforming Congress. 2010-02-17T20:47:46+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/the-democrats-response-to-citizens-united-not-even-close-to-good-enoug/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/the-democrats-response-to-citizens-united-not-even-close-to-good-enoug/ The Democratic Leadership in Congress announced its response to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United last week. Their plan builds upon "talking points" released by the President shortly after his State of the Union, describing his strategy for "cracking down on special interests" in light of the new threat created by the Court. "For too long," the White House wrote, "hardworking folks doing everything they can do to stay afloat have not been heard over the powerful voices of the special interests and their lobbyists in Washington." The Leadership and the President want to do something about this. 2010-02-16T15:37:11+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/breaking-congresss-response-to-citizens-united/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/breaking-congresss-response-to-citizens-united/ The Democratic leadership in Congress just announced its response to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, the case that struck down limits on independent corporate campaign expenditures. In a word: hopeless. 2010-02-11T20:31:36+00:00 http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/new-installment-of-the-change-congress-chronicles/ http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/new-installment-of-the-change-congress-chronicles/ Monica Walsh, Development Director for Change Congress, sent out the following email yesterday to Change Congress supporters, including a new video from Lawrence Lessig. 2010-02-10T18:22:16+00:00