Note: the 112th U.S. Congress will convene on Wed., Jan. 5th, 2011, and up-to-date info on campaign contributions will be available from our data partners, OpenSecrets and MAPLight, thereafter and ongoing. For more background on the pervasive role of money in politics, see FixCongressFirst.

The Money Trail

This section is about the role of money in politics. Data on campaign contributions is provided by the non-partisan resources OpenSecrets and MAPLight.

OpenCongress makes it possible to draw connections between campaign contributions, the specific content of bills, and important votes by Members of Congress. Figures below are individual contributions from 2009-2010, which is the most recent data set available because Congress refuses to report its contributions in timely, digital formats. (More detailed info on PAC contributions is coming soon.)


The top-line categories below are Sectors, under which are listed varying numbers of Industries. Under any Industry, click on the name of an Interest Group to view a list of its top recipients in Congress. Click the name of any Senator or Representative to visit his or her profile and view all details on their donors. Not every Interest Group currently has Members associated with it, but we will continue to add new data in order to make government more transparent.

OpenCongress is a free and open-source project of the Participatory Politics Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to increase civic engagement. The non-profit Sunlight Foundation is the Founding and Primary Supporter of OpenCongress.