November 13th, 2009

Philadelphia Inq Blog reports:

Two nonprofit government-watchdog groups, the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Responsive Politics, have cross-listed pharmaceutical and health insurance companies and their lobbying firms to show how these groups raise money for the influential Senators of both parties now leading debate on Obama’s healthcare proposals.

Researchers “identified outside lobbyists that donated to the same members of Congress as their clients,” which ”strongly suggests that special interest giving is enhanced by the K Street contributors they hire,” says their report here.

“In all, 61 members of Congress–39 in the Senate, 22 in the House, 38 Democrats and 23 Republicans–got money from 10 or more outside lobbyists whose healthcare or health insurance industry clients also contributed to their campaigns…

“Sen. Max Baucus [D-Montana], chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee and author of the main health care reform bill now being debated in the Senate, was one of the biggest beneficiaries of this one-two punch from the lobbyists and their clients. From January 2007 through June 2009, Baucus collected contributions from 37 outside lobbyists representing PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s chief trade association…

“Other leading recipients of combined lobbyist-client giving were Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and Democratic Senators Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Mark Udall of Colorado.” Lobbyists for Amgen, Roche Holdings, Pfizer and Blue Cross/Blue Shield were also frequent donors.

“There is no indication that the extra giving by lobbyists was part of a planned effort by the healthcare firms to solidify their support among key members of Congress. But whether coordinated or not, the newly-found clusters of lobbyist giving clearly illustrate the intensity of the full-court press that the industry is currently waging on Capitol Hill.”