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08 Feb 2012 10:01

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Politics: Must-read of the week: The Washington Post’s “Capital Assets” series

  • In case you haven’t seen this, the Post’s coverage of how members of Congress are directing spending to places where it benefits them personally is pretty impressive. Examples: Sen. Richard Shelby helped push more than $100 million in earmarks to help rebuild Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and much of that money went to nicen up an area directly around an office building he owns in the city, which has risen in property value as development has increased. (Watch the video; it syncs up with a map of Tuscaloosa.) He’s not alone. Congressmen around the country directly or indirectly benefited from millions in spending that, at the very least, might give them a nicer view around their property — or in other cases, benefited their family members. The Post did a lot of great work on this piece, and it shows. source

21 Jul 2010 09:15

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U.S.: Check out our massive breakdown of Congress’ spending habits

  • We spent a friggin’ month working on this. We sliced, diced and brought amazing context to Congressional expenditures (specifically the House – not the Senate, unfortunately), and now we’re happy to show you our multitude of hard work (and then some) for AOL News. How much did Congress spend on bottled water? And how much did they spend on Macs vs. PCs? Oh, and who buys more copies of The New York Times? We know the answers to all three. Thanks to the Sunlight Foundation for making this doable. source