Thursday, September 17, 2009

Center for Responsive Politics Health Care Tools Help You Follow the Money from Capital Eye

 

Given the popularity of the four health care tools we provided in our "Diagnosis: Reform" series, we've decided to put those charts together in one place and update them as we get data from the Federal Election Commission and Senate Office of Public Records. 

Just follow this link to investigate the cash flowing from the well-heeled special interests within health industries to your representatives, the committee members with the most power to shape the legislation and the moderate Blue Dog Democrats. You can also use the cheat sheet to examine how much money key industry players are spending to influence the debate. And the first three tools include downloadable spreadsheets so you may dig deeper. 

Although we posted our month-long health care series in June, the reform issue has only continued to gain momentum. Just Wednesday, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) released his draft of a health care reform bill that expands eligibility for Medicaid and requires all Americans to have health insurance -- but does not include a government-run option. 

Using our health care tool that shows contributions to all members from insurers, pharmaceuticals and other health industries, you will discover that Baucus has raised $3.9 million through his candidate committees and leadership PAC from the health sector since 1989. That's more than all but one other current federal lawmaker (including only those who haven't also run for president), Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.). 

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who is a member of Baucus' Senate Finance Committee, has criticized Baucus for not including the full committee in shaping the proposal and has voiced concern about a number of the bill's provisions. Rockefeller has brought in $1.7 million from health care interests.

If you're curious about how much money other members of the Senate Finance Committee have raised, scroll through this chart to do some comparisons of that cash and the members' views of the public option. 

Although liberal Democrats may not be happy with Baucus' bill, the Blue Dog Democrats have praised it during the past 24 hours. See how much these individual moderate Democrats have collected from various health-related industries here.

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