A fascinating story about how campaign contributions flow to members of the committees that big donors are really interested in and how this makes a huge difference to lawmakers, who need a steady stream of donations to fund their re-election campaigns.
- The Most (And Least) Lucrative Committees In Congress, by Andrea Seabrook and Alex Blumberg, Planet Money, National Public Radio. (originally published on March 30. It was updated on April 6.)
Both parties rank each committee for its fundraising potential. There are lists of the A, B, and C committees, and fundraising targets for the members. Those lists aren’t public. Many lawmakers say these lists exist, but no one would give one to us.
So we created our own list, based on publicly disclosed fundraising numbers. At our request, Lee Drutman of the Sunlight Foundation, crunched data going back to the early ’90s.
- Ways and Means, Financial Services, and Energy and Commerce are top House fundraising committees, Lee Drutman, Sunlight Foundation (April 2, 2012).
The analysis was conducted at the request of and in collaboration with This American Life and Planet Money public radio programs. It is featured on the March 31, 2012 episode of This American Life.
- Take the Money and Run for Office, This American Life 461. (Originally aired 03.30.2012).
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