Lisa Gilbert, MoPIRG’s democracy advocate in Washington, D.C., reports that influence peddling is still a growth industry in our nation’s capital, even in an economic downturn. Large corporate donors are attempting to influence hot button issues such as health care, energy, and financial reform through their contributions.

By mid-year, the insurance and real estate sectors had already made $23.8 million in campaign contributions to political parties and candidates for federal office, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

MoPIRG is building support for legislation to curb corporate spending on electoral campaigns. Legislation MoPIRG helped to draft is currently being considered in Congress, and 77 members in the House of Representatives have already agreed to sponsor it. The legislation would help to curb the influence of corporate dollars in part by establishing a matching system for small donations by citizens.

Will one of the best provisions of the American Clean Energy and Security Act survive the legislative process? If it does, it will keep 250 million tons of carbon pollution out of our atmosphere—the equivalent of taking 50 million cars off the road—while saving Americans an estimated $25 billion per year.

The legislation, approved by the House in June (see Page 1), requires that all new buildings be twice as energy-efficient as required by today’s standard within seven years. After 2016, the standard ratchets up by 5 percent every three years. The efficiency gains can be achieved through better insulation, more energy-efficient lighting, and more efficient heating and cooling systems, among other steps.

The National Association of Homebuilders and the National Association of Office and Industrial Parks are lobbying to weaken the provision or strip it out of the Senate’s version of the bill. We’re urging the Senate to keep it in.

This summer, our public health advocate in Washington, D.C., Liz Hitchcock, submitted testimony to Congress that repeats our call for an increase in safety standards at chemical facilities that use potentially dangerous chemicals, such as Midland Resources in St. Louis.

The legislation we’re backing would require the implementation of safer technologies and alternatives at high-risk facilities and would increase government oversight at those plants, potentially saving thousands of lives in the event of an accident or terrorist attack.

“Congress should not allow unnecessary risk to American communities when we know there are common sense ways to make these facilities safer,” said Hitchcock in her testimony . “There should be no further delay in passing this already long overdue protection.”