The Year Lobbyists Influenced Government Policy the Most Since 2008

In 2008, Hezbollah, a Shitte political party and militant group, took over central Beirut, leading to sectarian violence between the Sunnis and Shiites, two warring religious factions. Iran-backed Hezbollah opposes Israel and western influence in the Middle East. According to OpenSecrets and ProPublica, the lobbying efforts supported federal legislation to ensure compensation from terrorist states to individual victims of terrorism.

Lobbying efforts to support federal legislation to ensure compensation from terrorist states to individual victims of terrorism increased in 2009. Yet there were apparently no lobbying efforts from that group again until 2017, when a little over $1.6 million was recorded by OpenSecrets.

An alternative energy company, KL Energy Corp., which designs grain and cellulose-based ethanol processes, spent $10 million on lobbying that year. Once a small portion of the energy sector, alternative energy companies working in biofuels, ethanol, wind, and solar ramped up their lobbying spending in 2009-2010. Politico notes the entire sector spent $2.4 million in lobbying in 1998. By 2009, the figure had skyrocketed to $30 million.

Global investment firm Blackstone Group’s lobbying efforts peaked in 2011. What was the company lobbying for? Blackstone and other private equity outfits wanted to preserve the carried interest tax break.

After spending $5.2 million in 2011, Blackstone cut its lobbying budget to $2.6 million in 2012. The carried interest rate loophole, which allows private equity firms to be taxed at the lower capital gains rates rather than at personal income tax rates, still remains. With fierce lobbying from private equity firms a fix has again not been introduced in the recent budget.

Tides Advocacy describes itself as a group of political, legal, and financial experts working for social justice. 2013 was its strongest year for lobbying, having spent $6.3 million that year. In 2020, the group spent less than $200,000 on lobbying.

The Gila River Indian Community is a Native American reservation within the Phoenix Metro area. It is home to two tribes: Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee-Posh (Maricopa). At issue was a proposal by another tribe, the Tohono O’odham Nation, to open a casino in Glendale, Arizona, per Politico. The Gila River Indian Community operates a casino in that area and wanted the competing gaming outlet blocked. Republicans in the House and Senate, including the late Sen. John McCain, backed the Gila River Indian Community in the fight.

In 2015, semiconductor maker Qualcomm lobbied Congress for easing of visa restrictions so the company could hire more foreign-born engineers. However, as the Los Angeles Times pointed out, Qualcomm’s lobbying efforts coincided with the company laying off 15% of its workforce, or 5,000 workers.

The Keep the Promise Act of 2015 was introduced in the House of Representative in March 2015. The act would have restricted gaming activities in the Phoenix area, a proposal backed by the Gila River Indian Community. The community was looking to stop another tribe from building a casino in Glendale, Arizona, which is 9 miles from Downtown Phoenix. The proposal failed in the House. In 2017, the Tohono O’odham Nation reached an agreement with the state of Arizona to open the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley near Glendale. As part of the agreement, the tribe said it would not open any other gaming outlets in Metro Phoenix.

Qualcomm’s lobbying efforts in 2017 centered around the growing competition between U.S. tech companies and China. A New York Times article notes Qualcomm was fined $975 million by the Chinese government for anticompetitive practices. The company agreed to lower its prices in China and move its high-end manufacturing to partners in the country. At the time, Congress considered legislation to block China from acquiring U.S. technology. Conversely, tech companies like Qualcomm argued the only way to gain access to the lucrative Chinese market is through joint ventures.

In March 2018, Singapore-based Broadcom Ltd.’s bid for Qualcomm was first scuttled when the Committee on Foreign Investment began reviewing the deal for potential national security implications. Eventually, on March 12, President Donald Trump killed the proposed deal by executive order, citing security concerns. According to Reuters, the acquisition could have hurt the U.S. effort to develop 5G wireless technology. Qualcomm has previously been fighting against Broadcom’s hostile takeover.

The U.S. government in 2019 banned chip sales to China-based Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment company, over national security concerns. Qualcomm, along with chipmakers Intel and Xilinx, wanted the ban lifted so it could continue shipping chips to Huawei for manufacturing of phones and smartwatches.

New California Republic Co. hired lobbying firm Wilson & Rome in 2020, in a contract worth more than $5.5 million. The New California Republic is a rather mysterious group of Californians who want to break away from the rest of the state. In a statement, the group said, “The current state of California has become governed by a tyranny,” adding that it’s “the Duty of the People who are suffering the long train of abuses and usurpations at the hands of a tyrannical government to abolish and make New a Government.” According to OpenSecrets, New California Republic’s only lobbying spending was in 2020.

Qualcomm formed a coalition in 2021 with tech firms Amazon, Google, Apple, Intel, and IBM to lobby Congress for passage of a bill aimed at increasing semiconductor production. The bill, sponsored by Semiconductors in America Coalition, was enacted by Congress and was supported by President Joe Biden, but had not received funding as of May 2021. The bill would set aside $7 billion over five years for semiconductor research and establishment of a National Semiconductor Technology Center.