Some big U.S. companies and other organizations spent more money lobbying federal lawmakers during the second quarter than they have in years.
The American Medical Association, Boeing and the Business Roundtable each spent more money on lobbying during the second quarter of this year than they have in any quarter since 2008, according to an analysis by the nonprofit MapLight.
The American Medical Association is a professional medical organization representing doctors, and the Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers.
The top 10 spenders in the last quarter collectively spent about $86.8 million on lobbying, according to MapLight. They are:
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce: $22.97 million (includes $5.11 million spent by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, an affiliate organization)
- American Medical Association: $12.4 million
- Boeing: $9.288 million
- General Electric: $8.46 million
- National Association of Realtors: $8.18 million
- Business Roundtable: $6.43 million
- National Association of Manufacturers: $4.84 million
- Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America: $4.82 million
- American Hospital Association: $4.77 million
- Google: $4.62 million
According to the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 requires all active lobbying registrants to file quarterly reports about their lobbying activity with the House and Senate. MapLight’s latest analysis is based on those reports for the second quarter.
For details on spending on lobbying since 2008, visit MapLight’s federal lobbying database.
The Center for Responsive Politics — which also tracks political spending — reports that overall spending on lobbying actually decreased in the second quarter:
Substantial spikes in outlays for lobbying by some of the biggest-spending clients could not keep overall second-quarter numbers from sliding below those of the first three months of the year — and in fact below those of any second quarter since at least 2010, with the exception of 2013.
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