Who Spends the Most Lobbying the US Government

The CTIA, which represents the wireless communications industry, has been urging the federal government to maintain a steady supply of spectrum used for wireless communications to meet private sector needs. The spectrum is finite and the government controls access, but cellphone use in the U.S. topped 42 trillion megabytes in 2020, according to the group.

The world’s second-largest broadband and telecommunications company by revenue is also among the largest lobbying spenders. New York City-based Verizon is one of seven corporations on the list of the top 20 largest lobbying spenders of 2021.

The BIO, which represents the biotech industry, is partnered with another organization on this list, the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America. The two groups oppose “Medicare for all” proposals that would offer Americans a publicly-funded alternative to employer-provided health insurance.

The Philadelphia-based owner of NBCUniversal is the world’s second-largest broadcast and cable company and the largest provider of home internet service in the United States based on revenue, according to Fortune magazine. Comcast spends almost all of its lobbying money on influencing lawmakers regarding telecommunications services.

The Chicago-based aerospace company, maker of 737 commercial aircraft and Apache attack helicopters, is the top U.S. lobbyist on issues pertaining to air transport, followed by package carriers FedEx and UPS. Politico reported that three of the company’s top lobbyists recently departed, including its vice president of legislative affairs in March.

The AARP focuses on issues affecting Americans over the age of 50 and is the second-most profitable interest group on this list after the National Association of Realtors. The AARP recently advocated for boomers who turned 60 in 2020 who could see a decline in their Social Security payments due to a problem related to the coronavirus pandemic in how earnings are calculated.

The NCTA is the primary trade association for the U.S. broadband and subscription television industries. Along with three other interest groups or companies on this list — the CTIA, Verizon, and Comcast — spent heavily lobbying against strict net neutrality rules and other telecom and broadband regulations, according to the consumer advocacy group Common Cause.

The North Bethesda, Maryland-based aerospace, defense, and cybersecurity company is the world’s largest defense contractor and lobbies for favorable legislation on defense issues. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission earlier this year sued to block Lockheed Martin from acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne, the last independent supplier of missile propulsion systems.

The NAM has been criticized for its efforts to obstruct legislation pertaining to actions to mitigate climate change. Some NAM members including Microsoft and Procter & Gamble, have disavowed NAM’s policy position on climate change but still maintain membership to the advocacy group.

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon is one of the two defense contractors on this list (Lockheed Martin is the other one). One of the many examples of the revolving door between defense lobbyists and the Pentagon is former Raytheon lobbyist Mark Esper, whom President Donald Trump appointed as the 27th U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Like the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the industry trade group for chemical manufacturers actively lobbies against regulatory efforts to fight industrial causes of climate change. The association nearly doubled its spending last year to fight legislative efforts to implement an industry plastics tax and to restart an industry tax that expired in 1995 to clean up superfund pollution sites.

The world’s largest e-commerce site and cloud computing services provider reported the second highest net income among companies on the list after Meta. Seattle-based Amazon has been greatly increasing the number of its lobbyists in Washington D.C., from 25 a decade ago to 111 in 2021. Amazon recently closed its acquisition of entertainment company MGM Studios in order to bolster its entertainment vertical.

The AMA opposes “Medicare for all” (or single-payer) proposals, arguing against any “one size fits all solution.” Currently, most Americans obtain access to health care through one system of employer-provided health insurance or through higher-cost private health insurance. Meanwhile, Americans continue to pay increasingly higher health care prices and ever-increasing health insurance premiums.

Menlo Park, California-based Meta (formerly Facebook) reported the highest net income of the seven companies on this list. The company broke its record for lobbying spending last year as Congress pushed for stronger antitrust regulation in the tech industry. Meta also opposes efforts to hold online services providers more liable for user-provided content and to require more disclosure about how their algorithms work.

The health care industry trade group advocates for favorable legislation pertaining to policies affecting hospitals and extended-care facilities. Recently, the AHA called on the Biden administration to investigate alleged price gouging by health care staffing agencies, which have experienced a boom in demand for traveling nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The BCBSA is a federation of health insurance companies that together provide coverage to roughly a third of all Americans. The BCBSA subsidiary that spent the most on lobbying last year was Anthem, the publicly traded health insurer that in 2021 paid $1.1 billion in cash dividends to shareholders and spent $1.9 billion in share buybacks, another method of transferring wealth to investors.

The lobbyist association whose members are the CEOs of major U.S. companies argued in 2019 that big companies must do better in considering the interests of employees and consumers, not just having a laser-like focus on maximizing shareholder value. But in September, a study funded by the Ford Foundation determined the Business Roundtable “has failed to deliver fundamental shifts in corporate purpose.”

Pharmaceutical companies raised prices on 742 drugs in January, according to Patients for Affordable Drugs, including 11 of the 15 top-selling drugs. These constant price hikes, which increase faster than inflation, have helped to make Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America a popular target for critics. Both the AARP and the American Hospital Association have lambasted retail prices of brand name prescription drugs.

The NAR is the most profitable interest group on this list and is second only to the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce in how much it spends to lobby on behalf of property brokers. The group opposes the U.S. Treasury Department’s new reporting requirements for all-cash real estate transactions, an effort to crack down on money laundering in the real estate market.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business lobbying group, is aligned with the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Chemistry Council in its opposition to federal regulations aimed at mitigating climate change. The USCC opposes the Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan to require publicly traded companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions.