Government and Politics

Lobbyists' Spending in 1997

Special interests reported spending $1.17 billion last year to lobby Congress, the White House and federal bureaucrats, according to a joint study by the Associated Press and the Center for Responsive Politics. The sum is equal to what the U.S. Army annually spends on ammunition or what the Food and Drug Administration goes through in one year.

  • Companies, unions, interest groups and municipalities reported hiring 14,484 lobbyists -- outnumbering members of Congress 27 to 1.

  • The most heavily lobbied issues last year were the federal budget, taxes, health, transportation and defense.

  • The biggest spender last year was the American Medical Association, which reported shelling out $17.1 million.

  • Within industry categories, telecommunications was the biggest spender at $63.96 million.

Other major categories included the pharmaceutical industry, $59.7 million; oil and gas, $51.7; defense, $40 million; the automobile industry, $34.6 million; and business groups, $24.6 million.

Although Microsoft plunked down $1.9 million related to its battle against the Justice Department's antitrust suit and a congressional investigation, it was outspent by the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. That U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean was under fire for bringing in foreign garment workers and paying them less than the federal minimum wage.

Source: Associated Press, "Interest Groups Pay Out $1 Billion to Lobby Congress," Washington Times, July 8, 1998.

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