shock about this i was joined earlier by money and politics reporter russ choma from the center for responsive politics and i began by asking him how do donors influence policy. you know there's a wide range of people who donate money and most people in america don't donate very much money and the few people who do tend to donate quite a bit and it goes up very quickly and actually is up there among donors although he's definitely not in the top tier but we figure he and his family have given out four hundred twenty six thousand dollars to candidates in the last twenty years or so in the last election he gave quite a bit and in addition is. gave about seven hundred thousand dollars to a super pac which benefited senate candidates among them a very successful iconic he runs over there and he has quite a few business interests in addition to the i can take in the security business that you mentioned there's also allegations that sentiment is may have intervened. on behalf of some medicare billing issues that malcolm was in his in his. firm were facing and so the allegations of them and as has e-mailed pe

really appreciate you weighing in on their wrath that was russ child a reporter for a center for responsive politics. a little bit over gun control continues in the us after the newtown school nashua ting there is a new call for change but others feel like their second amendment rights are under attack are they correspond on a saucy a tear going to heads to a pro-gun rally in albany new york. the big apple business as usual. a few hours by train in. the empire state capital. as the united states remains divided when it comes to what to do with guns in this country after a recent series of shootings hundreds of anti-gun control protesters gathered outside the state capitol building in albany hear the toughest state law on firearms in the us after the sandy hook elementary school shooting the same fact was passed a month ago. and those whose guns are at stake are far from happy so why look like a terrorist because they will look like a fanatic among other provisions the new state law bans weapon sales over the web restricts ammo magazines to seven bullets include stricter background checks and regular

we know rove can raise the money according to the center for responsible politics his super pac and theit one, they spent $175 million during the 2012 election cycle. but sometimes karl rove ends up with candidates like this. >> life is a gift from god, and i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something that god intended to happen. >> jennifer: you remember poor richard mourdock the tea party-backed republican indiana senate candidate. well, he lost, and now according to the "new york times" american cross roads is spinning off an operation called conservative victory project to help get electable republican candidates past the tea party candidates. and not all republicans are happy. matt hoskins released a statement saying . . . meaning the tea party. ouch. sounds like the tea party is ready to restock its supply of tar and feathers. joining me now is one guy who loves a right on right fight. and jason johnson, political science professor at hiram university and chief political correspondent for politic365.com joins us from atlanta. welcome back t

host: sarah bryner is with the center for responsive politics where she is a research director. on twitter. is it all self reporting? guest: other than the fact that they keep track of these things internally, there is not someone from the government standing over you and making sure you're not spending more than 20% of your time lobbying. it is certainly possible that people are not necessarily being honest. host: in miami beach on our democratic line. hello. caller: i think you are really whitewashing the issue of lobbyists. legislation. there oftentimes, a member of congress who is supporting bill do not understand the consequences. we have had hundred those years of a corporate influence that is detrimental to the common man. we do not have that kind of influence. i am afraid of the law to close the loopholes because they will be written by lobbyists. host: we had an earlier caller who said he did not like the term lobbyist, that it was negative. caller: you are still light washing the issue. the major part of the lobbyist's role is to write legislation for the congress. all

according to the center for responsive politics, since 1998, the health care and drug industry, includingdoctors and hospitals, have spent $5.36 billion lobbying in washington. that is nearly double spent by the defense industry and the oil and gas industry combined. so people who make money in health care certainly have the government's ear and i might add they have our pockets. >> indeed. drew griffin, thanks. >>> a husband and dad close to dying in an avalanche. he came so close to losing everything. he'll be here to describe that terror, ahead. ight when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and may be fatal. intermezzo should not be taken if you have taken another sleep medicine at bedtime or in the middle of the night or drank alcohol that day. do not

according to the center for responsive politics, since 1998, doctors and hospitals have spent 5.36 billionashington. that is nearly double of what was spent by the defense industry and oil and gas industry combined. so people make money in health care certainly have the government's ear and i might add they have our pockets. >> indeed. drew griffin, thanks. >> a husband and dad close to dying in an avalanche. he will be here to describe that terror ahead. with thermacare heatwraps. thermacare works differently. it's the only wrap with patented heat cells that penetrate deep to relax, soothe, and unlock tight muscles. for up to 16 hours of relief, try thermacare. to relax, soothe, and unlock tight muscles. so, i'm working on a cistern intake valve, and the guy hands me a locknut wrench. no way! i'm like, what is this, a drainpipe slipknot? wherever your business takes you, nobody keeps you on the road like progressive commercial auto. [ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. now, that's progressive. call or click today. >>> you're about to meet a very lu

according to the center for responsive politics, since 199, doctors and hospitals have spent 5 5.36 billion washington. double of the defense industry and the oil and gas industry combined. so people make money in health care certainly have the government's ear and i might ad add they have our pockets. >> indeed. drew griffin, thanks. >>> a grisly discovery on a hotel rooftop in los angeles. a decomposing body found in a water tank where it might have been for as long as 2 1/2 weeks while hotel guests used that water. the latest on the investigation and we'll take you inside that hotel. next. ♪ come on, boy! [ barks ] ♪ oh, heavenly day here we go. ♪ cha-cha-cha ♪ don't you know that i love ya ♪ ♪ cha-cha-cha-cha-cha ♪ always thinking of ya ♪ all around the world ♪ everybody singin' along ♪ singin' along ♪ fly me to the moon ♪ let me play among the stars ♪ let me see what spring -- ♪ [ birds chirping ] [ male announcer ] with the best lineup of vehicles ever, introducing the new chevrolet. ♪ oh, heavenly day why just go from "a" to "b" when imagination can take you everywhere? ♪ all the clo

according to the center for responsive politics, since 1998, doctors and hospitals have spent 5.36 billionin washington. that is nearly double of what was spent by the defense industry and oil and gas industry combined. so people make money in health care certainly have the government's ear and i might ad add they have our pockets. >> indeed. drew griffin, thanks. >> a husband and dad close to dying in an avalanche. he will be here to describe that terror ahead. fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. it's lots of things. all waking up. connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. we're going to wake the world up. and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. cisco. tomorrow starts here. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be

spending was about the same or slightly less compared to 2008 based on estimates by the center for responsive politics. re close to the previous election and it includes all spending. same is true for congressional elections. total spending seems to have declined by 300 million. this makes sense because the house was not in play the way it was in 2010. here is the redistribution i'm talking about. the presidential general election shows redistribution from party organizations to non- party groups. he shows a pattern which cannot be attributed to citizens united. citizens united made it more stark. interest groups finance less than 10%. you can see the shift when party starts losing soft money and after citizens united, just 6% of that are funded by parties compared to 36% from other groups. the party committees still out advertise other groups. nonparty groups are increasing their advertising. this illustrates two points. this reflects my argument that collective organizing was increasingly important with majority stakes government and polarized parties. parties but a key role in the 1990's. this is b

then the center for responsive politics will focus on lobbying rules and restrictions that apply to current and former members of congress. we will be joined by the founder of the treatment advocacy center to discuss his article on how the diegan institute -- institutionalize edition of psychiatric patients is affecting mental patients today. live at 7 in eastern every day. now a briefing on debt reduction and the federal budget from a bipartisan group of former u.s. senate and house budget committee chairman and other members. the committee for responsible federal budget hosted this half hour event. >> good afternoon. i run the campaign to fix the debt. i am pleased to be here introducing our congressional fiscal leadership council, which is a tremendous group of former members of congress to come together to join the campaign to make the case as no one else can. they have all been there and experienced what it is like to be a policy maker trying to do different things in a partisan environment that have come to make the case why the fiscal challenges are so pressing. it is still import we

the estimates i have taken, from the center for responsive politics, about 7% of the spending in 2012 came from groups that did not disclose their donors, the donors to those groups. this is a decline from 2010. it is not surprising that this has been a decline, because the only groups that do not have to disclose donors are non-profit trade organizations, unions, and this is generally dollars in small amounts. anybody who would give to these groups specifically with the idea, i want to do political activity, has to realize that these groups are limited under the irs code to spending -- the irs has never defined it well -- it is clearly under half of what they do on political activity. that goes hand-in-hand with their legal status. if they do more than that, they are violating their legal status. these groups are spending less than that. if you are a guy who wants to influence an election, you give your money to one of these groups because you do not want your name disclosed, you have to realize that your paying about a 50% tax and your political activity. that is about half the mone

while for gun control groups it was their lowest total since 1990, according to the center for response for politics. gun rights groups actually spent ten times more than gun control groups. so bloomberg and folks like that have a lot of catching up to do. >> mike bloomberg, though, the mayor of new york, he has a lot of money. >> absolutely. >> if he wants to spend it, he obviously can. >> absolutely. >> thank you for that report, joe. >>> you can see an interview later on in "the situation room" with tony bennett during our 6:00 p.m. eastern hour. >>> authorities in the dominican republic are trying to find the source that a u.s. senator took free plane trips to sex parties in the caribbean. senator robert menendez calls the allegations a smear by right-wing blogs. it first surfaced from e-mails from a man named tony peters. in the dominican republic right now, authorities haven't started their investigation yet and can't confirm claims that it came from a computer in mexico. >>> shockwaves from the u.s. postal service. financial crisis set to hit your mailbox. in the end, an end to saturday deliv

obama's state of the union address with reporters withkumar for mcclatchy and jonathan strong from roll call. and center of response of politicsd lobbying rules and restrictions that apply to current and former members of congress. and we will be joined by the founder of

center and the members of this commission believe that it is possible for men and women with strongly held different link political philosophies to come together in good faith to try to deal in a responsibley through principled compromise with the major problems facing our nation. one of our objectives is simply to demonstrate the american people to political officials and the country that it can be done. there are 21 members of this commission. if each of the 21 had offered his or her report it's almost a certainty that no two would have been alike and no one of them would have been identical to the report that the commission eventually agreed upon. we don't resent this is a piece of legislation. that will require action by congress and the administration. we present it as a set of ideas and principles with sufficient details giving content that amazing that many decisions will have to be made through the legislative and political process. but we do present it as an example of what can be done in our country and what our country now desperately needs. it is an approach that says you don't have to leave your principles outside the door. come inside and make a reasonable compromise that is