Lobbying Database

In addition to campaign contributions to elected officials and candidates, companies, labor unions, and other organizations spend billions of dollars each year to lobby Congress and federal agencies. Some special interests retain lobbying firms, many of them located along Washington's legendary K Street; others have lobbyists working in-house. We've got totals spent on lobbying, beginning in 1998, for everyone from AAI Corp. to Zurich Financial. (See also: Foreign Lobby Watch.)

You can use the options on the left to search through our database in several ways: search by name for a company, lobbying firm or individual lobbyist; search for the total spending by a particular industry; view the interests that lobbied a particular government agency; or search for lobbying on a general issue or specific piece of legislation.

Total Lobbying Spending
1998 $1.45 Billion 1999 $1.44 Billion 2000 $1.57 Billion 2001 $1.63 Billion 2002 $1.83 Billion 2003 $2.06 Billion 2004 $2.18 Billion 2005 $2.44 Billion 2006 $2.63 Billion 2007 $2.87 Billion 2008 $3.31 Billion 2009 $3.50 Billion 2010 $3.51 Billion 2011 $3.32 Billion 2012 $3.30 Billion 2013 $3.24 Billion 2014 $3.26 Billion 2015 $3.22 Billion 2016 $3.15 Billion 2017 $3.34 Billion

Number of Lobbyists*
1998 10,404 1999 12,924 2000 12,543 2001 11,853 2002 12,150 2003 12,959 2004 13,201 2005 14,098 2006 14,493 2007 14,827 2008 14,141 2009 13,730 2010 12,917 2011 12,617 2012 12,235 2013 12,127 2014 11,843 2015 11,545 2016 11,169 2017 11,444

Lobbying

Lobbying on immigration, border ticks up despite “shadow lobbying”

February 8, 2018 | Lobbyists who advocated on general immigration issues in 2017 reached 1,438 — the highest the number has been since 2013.

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Campaign funding from Health Insurance and Pharma blocks hopes for Single-Payer enthusiasts

January 31, 2018 | Congress may be slow to respond to growing interest in a single-payer healthcare system. The influence of insurance & pharmaceutical companies looms large.

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Trump’s state in the eye of the Union

January 30, 2018 | What's to come in President Trump’s first State of Union? Expect the phrase “America First.” The name Gorsuch. And something will be “great.”

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