Following the money in the Wall Street shakeout? Start here... Can you guess who is the #1 Recipient in Every Category? Yep. President Barack Obama!

February 25, 2009

Following the money in the Wall Street shakeout? Start here... Can you guess who is the #1 Recipient in Every Category? Yep. President Barack Obama!

Open Secrets - Center for Responsive Politics

Following the money in the Wall Street shakeout? Start here.

Published by Massie Ritsch

February 25, 2009 1:07 PM

Click here to view Top Industries Giving to Members of Congress, 2008 Cycle! This is a HUGE CONFLICT OF INTEREST and it has got to STOP!

OpenSecrets.org has many, many resources for anyone interested in following the money as Washington policymakers continue to craft and implement their solutions to the floundering economy. Here's a guide to what we at the Center for Responsive Politics have for you online:

Overviews of federal campaign contributions and lobbying by the finance, insurance and real estate sector
Within that sector, we have similar data for the two industries getting the most attention right now: the securities and investment industry (contributions, lobbying) and commercial banks (contributions, lobbying)
How much have members of Congress received from these industries? OpenSecrets.org can show you: securities/investment, banking. Play around with the dropdowns and slider menu to change the timeframe or see totals to specific members of the House and Senate.
Which companies are the biggest contributors within these industries and how do they split their money between Democrats and Republicans? Banking. Securities/investment.
For the biggest givers in American politics, which would include most of the major investment firms and commercial banks that have received federal bailout money, OpenSecrets.org has detailed "Heavy Hitter" profiles. You can review their contributions and lobbying over time and see how much they've contributed to particular politicians. Here's the full list, and here's direct access to Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America and American International Group (AIG).
The U.S. automotive industry has had its hand out, too. We track federal campaign contributions and lobbying by vehicle manufacturers and dealers.
Don't forget Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We have a list of politicians who've received contributions from their PACs and employees. And we have profiles of contributions and lobbying by the mortgage banking industry.
In addition to all that's linked above, we've posted a number of other analyses in our Capital Eye blog in the last few months. You can find these posts here.