The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform [3] is holding hearings on "waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars"; topics include [4] Iraq reconstruction, Homeland Security [5] contracting, and prescription drug pricing. Companies called to testify are "scrambling to hire lobbyists with Democratic ties," reports Bloomberg. Among pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer [6] hired Glover Park Group [7], AstraZeneca [8] hired Venable [9], and Roche [10] hired William Clyburn, the "cousin of the House's third-ranking Democrat, Jim Clyburn [11] of South Carolina." The biotech firm Amgen hired the Duberstein Group [12] and Lent, Scrivner & Roth. Among military contractors, Halliburton [13] hired Patton Boggs [14] and Halliburton unit KBR [15] hired Akin Gump Strauss [16], "whose partners include Democratic former House Speaker Thomas Foley [17]." And "two former Justice Department [18] officials who have formed their own lobbying firm," Mark Corallo [19] and Barbara Comstock, are advising Blackwater USA [20], as well as "oil and drug companies."