Earlier this month, the U.S. House passed legislation to greatly expand offshore oil drilling in the United States. In April, many of the members that voted for this legislation also pocketed cash from big oil PACs, according to Public Campaign Action Fund analysis of FEC filings.

According to the Huffington Post:

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) are traveling to New York City this week for meetings with Wall Street executives--complete with a big money fundraiser at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan.

"Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee are having a campaign fundraiser this week," says the New York Times editorial today. Not literally; that wouldn't be unusual.

On Friday, Democrats launched a new outside spending group, Priorities USA, in hopes of competing with conservative outfits that spent big influencing the 2010 election. Public Campaign Communications Director Adam Smith discussed the group on CBS News.

A story in Politico today illustrates perfectly how Washington, D.C. works. With the need to raise huge sums of campaign cash for the next election well underway, the very large freshman class of Republican lawmakers are taking direction from old DC hats and teaming up to raise money by forming joint fundraising committees.

Talking Points Memo has a story today on the corporate lobbyist fundraiser being held next week for the Wisconsin Republicans who just voted to strip state workers of their rights. The fundraiser is being hosted by The BGR Group, one of the largest corporate lobbyng firms in the country.

In an story on NPR today, newly elected Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), pictures on right, is featured in a story by Peter Overby about freshman fundraising and the lobbyists are already trying to buy access and influence with new members. Speaking of his fundraisers, Rep.

Yesterday, we reported on the news that newly-elected Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick missed the official swearing in ceremony on Tuesday to go to what appeared to be a fundraiser. Of course, Fitzpatrick started a push back almost immediately. According to Roll Call (subscription required), "Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa.) was attending a celebration in the Capitol Visitor Center with supporters that his campaign bused in from Pennsylvania.

News broke today that two House members, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and freshman Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), may not have actually been properly sworn in to the House yesterday. They were at the Capitol Visitors Center--and just holding up your right hand while watching it on TV may not do the trick.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reports that despite running against the Washington, D.C. establishment, newly-elected Tea Party favorites are already filling their staff's with lobbyists and cashing special interest campaign checks.