Weekly Watchdog: U.S. Let Hundreds of Guns Slip into Mexico

Home  |  Investigations  |  PaperTrail Blog  |  Latest from the Center  |  Support Our Work March 10, 2011   U.S. Let Hundreds of Guns Slip into Mexico   Share on Facebook  |     Share on Twitter Hoping to catch bigger fish upstream, the Justice Department and its Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives permitted hundreds of U.S. guns to be purchased and kept by suspected straw buyers for Mexican drug cartels, a new investigation by the Center and CBS News reveals. Government documents and whistleblower testimony show the ATF fully expected the guns might cross the border and even be used in crimes while a larger case was built. The agency allowed about 1,700 weapons to be sold – about 800 ended up at crime scenes, including the murder of a US Border Patrol agent. This week, Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, demanded that an independent watchdog be used to investigate the matter at the ATF.     Less Money for the Mentally Ill   Share on Facebook  |     Share on Twitter Despite high-profile crimes like the shooting of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others by a clearly unstable Jared Lee Loughner, states are slashing their mental health budgets. Desperate to close historically cavernous budget gaps, states have cut $2.1 billion over the last three fiscal years according to a new Center analysis. But the fiscal reality may even be worse than those numbers make it appear. That’s because up to now, federal stimulus money has cushioned the blow by pumping $103 billion into the states through Medicaid since early 2009. The money has been keeping state-run health insurance programs afloat for the last two years, but it will end this summer. When budgets get tight, at-risk citizens with few advocates often bear the brunt of funding cuts.   Health Insurers Trying to Weaken Healthcare Law   Share on Facebook  |     Share on Twitter Anyone interested in how the new healthcare law will be implemented must read Center news analyst Wendell Potter’s ongoing columns. The latest offers chilling insight into how insurers are steadily lobbying Capitol Hill to weaken consumer protection provisions they don’t like in the new law. They particularly hate a part of the law that requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of premium revenue on actual medical care. That’s bad for profits. The industry heavily backed the latest crop of Republican lawmakers in 2010 and Potter predicts insurers will likely win the changes they want. Where’s the public good in that? Three New Board Members   Share on Facebook  |     Share on Twitter I’m very pleased to announce that Arianna Huffington, Craig Newmark and Frederic Seegal have joined the Center’s board of directors. Huffington is the well-known co-founder of The Huffingtonpost and she is now president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group at AOL. Millions use Newmark’s great innovation daily – craigslist.org. The hugely popular classifieds site now attracts more than 60 million unique visitors per month and serves 700 cities in 55 countries. Investment banker Frederic Seegal has held top executive positions at Wasserstein Perella, Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers. The veteran media investment banker is now with Peter J. Solomon Company where he specializes in media, telecom and Internet companies. It is an honor to have such talented and experienced leaders on the Center for Public Integrity board.   Until next week, Bill Buzenberg Executive Director       The Center for Public Integrity® 910 17th Street NW | Suite 700 | Washington, DC 20006 | USA | (202) 466-1300 Note: If you wish to discontinue receiving these types of communications, please notify us online. Our records will be updated within 10 business days. This e-mail was sent to ignoble.experiment@arconati.us. To ensure that you continue receiving our emails, please add us to your address book or safe list.

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