Lobbying in the U.S. - statistics & facts
Since 2008, spending on lobbying in the U.S. has averaged around 3.3 billion U.S. dollars per year. There are an average of around 12,000 active registered lobbyists in the United States, outnumbering members of Congress by twenty to one. While it is certainly possible to hire an independent lobbyist, many businesses and organizations opt to hire a lobbying firm to engage with government agencies and officials on their behalf. Brownstein, Hyatt, et al. is one of the leading lobbying firms in the U.S., with expenses over 60 million U.S. dollars in 2022. The rise of globalized economic and political landscapes has given impetus to foreign lobbying for commercial and political advantage, raising concern about national security. This apprehension prompted the Foreign Agents Registrations Act in 1938, which requires all lobbying done on behalf of any foreign entity to be reported to the Department of Justice. There is a wide range of foreign principles that lobby in the United States, including governments, trade organizations, and tourism associations. Today, the country with the most lobbying activity in the United States was China, with over 60 million U.S. dollars spent in 2022.
What is lobbying?
Political lobbying is the process through which attempts are made to influence government leaders and other political actors toward legislative decisions that are favorable to certain causes. By definition, lobbying exists to serve as an opportunity for citizens, industries, businesses to have their interests heard and considered by government officials. Acting on behalf of those by whom they are hired, lobbyists serve as a bridge between policymakers and citizens. For that reason, they often have access to elected officials and government agencies, which is how information is communicated. Oftentimes, lawyers and former government officials are hired as lobbyists due to their preexisting political knowledge and connections.Top Issues & spenders
Spanning from local government to presidential elections, lobbying occurs in various degrees. Businesses are by far and away the biggest spenders on lobbying, with 3.5 billion U.S. dollars allocated to business lobbying in 2022, compared to almost 200 million U.S. dollars spent by ideological groups. Along with the National Association of Realtors, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was among the highest lobby spenders by a significant margin, spending over 80 million U.S. dollars on lobbying in 2022.Lobbying expenses can reflect an industry’s degree of vulnerability to regulatory laws, such as internet or tech companies, including Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet. Amazon nearly doubled its lobbying expenditure in the past five years, from 11 to 21 million between 2016 and 2022. As major tech companies in the U.S. have doubled down on their lobbying activity to reduce privacy regulations, concerns surrounding consumer data protection have been raised. In 2022, the pharmaceuticals and health products industry in the United States spent the most on lobbying efforts, reaching about 374 million U.S. dollars. Lobbying for certain industries such as pharmaceuticals, gun rights, and health products have become a source of political contention, with many arguing that lobbying for such industries has negatively impacted society Seeing as how lobbyists operate in alignment with their respective industries, societal outcomes are rarely a priority.
In terms of commonly lobbied issues, federal budget and appropriations was the most lobbied activity by number actors involved, with more than 5,000 lobbyists reported, and over 4,000 clients represented. Copyright, advertising, and TV broadcasting are common issues lobbied by companies such as Disney, 21st Century Fox, as well as the National Association of Broadcasters and Motion Picture Association of America. Another debated yet often lobbied issue surrounds the topic of gun rights and control in the U.S. One of the most well-known lobbying organizations in the United States is the National Rifle Association (NRA), which lobbies lawmakers in favor of gun rights. However, despite this, it only spent around 2.63 million U.S. dollars on lobbying expenditures in 2020.