Interest Groups that Supported Bill to Resume Offshore Drilling Gave 4.8 times more to House Democrats that Voted YES than to Ho

Opposition includes the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Surfrider Foundation.

Photo: weblogs.dailypress.com

(BERKELEY, Calif.) - The House of Representatives passed HR 1229 - Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act on Wednesday by an overwhelming margin of 263 - 163, including more than two dozen Democrats who voted to support the measure, while not a single Republican voted against it. The bill is part of the House Republicans' American Energy Initiative, a group of three bills aimed at ending the Obama administration's moratorium on domestic offshore drilling.

The bill was supported by the American Chemistry Council, American Energy Alliance, American Gas Association, FreedomWorks, National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The bill was opposed by Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, Southern Environmental Law Center and the Surfrider Foundation.

Campaign Contributions to Democrats

• Interest groups that supported this motion (Republican/Conservative, Chemicals, Major (multinational) oil & gas producers, Agricultural chemicals (fertilizers & pesticides), Pro-business associations, etc.) gave 4.8 times more on average to House Democrats that voted YES ($47,930) than to House Democrats that voted NO ($9,916).
• Interest groups that opposed this motion (Environmental policy, Health care institutions, Health & welfare policy, Animal Rights, etc.) gave 71% more on average to House Democrats that voted NO ($9,812) than to House Democrats that voted YES ($5,739).

Campaign Contributions to All Representatives

• Interest groups that supported this motion (Republican/Conservative, Chemicals, Major (multinational) oil & gas producers, Agricultural chemicals (fertilizers & pesticides), Pro-business associations, etc. ) gave 6.5 times more on average to House members that voted YES ($64,898) than to House members that voted NO ($9,916).
• Interest groups that opposed this motion (Environmental policy, Health care institutions, Health & welfare policy, Animal Rights, etc.) gave 157% more on average to House members that voted NO ($9,812) than to House members that voted YES ($3,823).

Methodology: Includes reported contributions to congressional campaigns of House members in office on day of vote, from interest groups invested in the vote according to MapLight, January 1, 2009 - December 31, 2010. Contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org.

A link to this data can be found here.

MapLight reveals money's influence on politics.