• "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce... reported spending a record amount on federal lobbying in the third quarter of this year," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The group's lobbying disclosure report... showed the chamber shelled out a record $34.7 million on lobbying. The business group sought to influence a wide gamut of issues from climate change, financial regulation and health care reform to more obscure legislation involving pythons."

• "Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) pressed the federal government at the height of the financial crisis for bailout money for a bank with which he has a long political and personal relationship," The Hill reports. "Left unmentioned was the Illinois Democrat's long affiliation with the bank and its U.S. operations in particular. Bank executives had contributed tens of thousands of dollars until 2004 to Gutierrez's political campaigns. The congressman's wife, Soraida, was a senior vice president at the firm from 2005 to 2007, before being fired."

• "Embattled House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) was the top recipient of bundled campaign contributions from lobbyists during the third fundraising quarter of this year, new reports show," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "According to Federal Election Commission reports filed after Thursday's deadline, Rangel received roughly $125,000 in combined campaign contributions from the McPherson Group's John Kelly, New York-based Constantinople & Vallone Consulting and trade group Employee-Owned S Corporations of America."