From the Center for Responsive Politics:
- Insurers On Alert Have Given $4 Million to Committees Grilling Them.
This puts an interesting spin on committee hearings. What if you are a member of Congress, and you are attuned to the need for campaign funding in order to hold onto your job, and you are going to hear testimony from interest groups representatives who also contribute to your campaign. Are you going to grill them hard, at the risk of losing support, or will you play softball instead?
It's back to school and 52 insurance companies or their subsidiaries have an assignment due today: they must disclose their financial records, including details on executive pay and entertainment expenditures, to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).
While this puts mega-insurers such as AFLAC and Blue Cross/Blue Shield on alert, they might find some comfort in that collectively they enjoy a financial bond with the current committee members. The members have collected $2.9 million from the employees and political action committees of the insurers that received letters from Waxman in August. Fifty-three percent of those donations has gone to Republicans.
Waxman himself has brought more money from the companies he's questioning than all but four other members of the committee. His total haul since 1989 is $106,500. Ranking member Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) has collected $84,350 in that time.
