As the House and Senate near passage of health care reform legislation, it’s instructive to look at just how much the insurance and HMO's industries poured into fighting it.

Today in Roll Call, 30 former members of Congress placed an ad calling for the current Congress to act boldly by passing the Fair Elections Now Act.

"We former members may disagree about the details of how to fix this problem – but we feel legislation like the Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826, S. 752) is a step in the right direction."

For the full ad, click here.

Politico spoke to a dozen freshman congressmen about the pressures of fundraising and found that nearly all lament the arduous process.

"They described days packed with research about potential donors, trips down the block to the boiler-room-style call centers operated by the campaign committees and hours of mind-numbing calls dialed from cramped cubicles.

 

Click here http://townhall.fairelectionsnow.org TODAY, February 25 at 6:00 P.M. EST for a virtual town hall meeting with Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826) lead House sponsor, Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.).

Hear first-hand how the legislation will empower small donors and ensure that elections are about voters, not wealthy corporate interests.

The New York Times political blog, The Caucus, reports that big donors have wriiten a letter to Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.) that says enough is enough - it's time to pass Fair Elections style campaign reform.

While most of Washington is still digging out of this weekend's blizzard, Public Campaign Action Fund joined with Common Cause and Change Congress to release new polling today on the impact of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision and the Fair Elections Now Act.

The results aren't surprising - voters are disillusioned by Washington and think that special interests have too much influence on the policy making process.

Here are some key points:

The New York Times editorializes on the need to fix the presidential public financing system and urges that a public financing system be created for Congress as well.

"Mr. Obama made much of a promise to fix it, once elected. So, the time has come to fix it.

Public Campaign Action Fund has named Sen. Richard Burr (D-N.C.) the latest "Insurance Puppet."

According to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Sen. Burr has received $274,586 in campaign contributions from the health insurance industry throughout his career.

For the full list of "insurance puppets," click here.

Public Campaign Action Fund has launched a new campaign to expose the "insurance puppets" in Congress, naming Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) the first "puppet," followed by Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).

Be sure to follow the site each day to see who else is doing the bidding of the insurance industry in the battle over health care reform.

Go to http://insurancepuppets.com to see who's next.

A new report from U.S. PIRG looks at the connection between transportation earmarks and campaign contributions, as reported in the N.Y. Times.