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All lobbying filings

Lobbying spend by issue

What Washington is lobbied on — federal lobbying issue areas ranked by the total reported spend of filings that named them, with how many filings and clients touched each.

Top spenders & firms

All years 2026 2025 2024 2016

A filing reports one spending figure covering every issue it lobbied on — the law doesn't break spend out by issue. So a filing that lobbied on three issues has its full spend counted under all three. These per-issue totals therefore overlap and don't sum to a grand total; read each as "money behind filings that touched this issue." "Spend" = reported income (fees) plus in-house lobbying expenses.

 Issue areas by reported spend
  1. Taxation/Internal Revenue Code $3,484,630,551.53 18,653 filings · 3,495 clients
  2. Budget/Appropriations $2,688,324,145.44 31,036 filings · 6,897 clients
  3. Trade (domestic/foreign) $2,318,646,930.32 11,751 filings · 2,475 clients
  4. Health Issues $2,154,243,481.98 19,249 filings · 3,786 clients
  5. Defense $1,466,134,498.26 16,253 filings · 3,647 clients
  6. Energy/Nuclear $1,364,829,832.89 10,435 filings · 2,237 clients
  7. Medicare/Medicaid $1,279,620,415.33 9,275 filings · 1,747 clients
  8. Transportation $1,231,078,390.91 9,573 filings · 2,179 clients
  9. Environment/Superfund $1,203,507,507.98 6,648 filings · 1,534 clients
  10. Financial Institutions/Investments/Securities $1,176,510,662.64 6,639 filings · 1,291 clients
  11. Labor Issues/Antitrust/Workplace $1,173,121,473.45 5,107 filings · 1,115 clients
  12. Copyright/Patent/Trademark $863,542,268.02 2,262 filings · 420 clients
  13. Homeland Security $854,014,303.78 3,725 filings · 908 clients
  14. Immigration $832,952,173.45 2,647 filings · 632 clients
  15. Telecommunications $812,290,343.33 3,881 filings · 719 clients
  16. Science/Technology $783,274,386.98 5,358 filings · 1,324 clients
  17. Agriculture $698,888,910.78 6,624 filings · 1,458 clients
  18. Government Issues $696,658,902.79 4,566 filings · 1,208 clients
  19. Consumer Issues/Safety/Products $695,348,983.22 2,805 filings · 600 clients
  20. Education $694,385,800.91 6,842 filings · 1,473 clients
  21. Banking $631,040,067.91 3,685 filings · 734 clients
  22. Foreign Relations $491,372,319.83 2,620 filings · 688 clients
  23. Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice $488,913,627.89 2,526 filings · 621 clients
  24. Aviation/Airlines/Airports $460,493,745.42 3,050 filings · 642 clients
  25. Insurance $434,628,471.93 1,800 filings · 353 clients
  26. Manufacturing $413,420,983.00 3,572 filings · 947 clients
  27. Natural Resources $400,557,780.39 5,480 filings · 1,331 clients
  28. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties $398,432,686.55 1,043 filings · 262 clients
  29. Housing $384,361,356.20 3,075 filings · 766 clients
  30. Pharmacy $381,791,147.94 1,775 filings · 375 clients
  31. Computer Industry $373,959,407.24 2,449 filings · 488 clients
  32. Retirement $367,284,567.92 1,292 filings · 251 clients
  33. Small Business $364,830,620.24 1,693 filings · 416 clients
  34. Veterans $347,234,484.48 2,485 filings · 595 clients
  35. Automotive Industry $332,041,944.00 1,193 filings · 212 clients
  36. Clean Air and Water (quality) $316,586,240.24 2,175 filings · 536 clients
  37. Aerospace $307,088,670.32 1,462 filings · 391 clients
  38. Tariff (miscellaneous tariff bills) $299,080,316.01 1,899 filings · 536 clients
  39. Communications/Broadcasting/Radio/TV $267,783,826.85 1,404 filings · 259 clients
  40. Food Industry (safety, labeling, etc.) $251,131,851.76 1,749 filings · 377 clients
  41. Economics/Economic Development $213,036,475.77 2,233 filings · 658 clients
  42. Fuel/Gas/Oil $202,960,020.02 1,149 filings · 289 clients
  43. Disaster Planning/Emergencies $193,986,090.32 1,747 filings · 490 clients
  44. Indian/Native American Affairs $188,546,224.12 1,902 filings · 408 clients
  45. Torts $187,946,698.87 338 filings · 73 clients
  46. Chemicals/Chemical Industry $181,814,769.73 935 filings · 206 clients
  47. Intelligence $181,166,641.00 751 filings · 201 clients
  48. Marine/Maritime/Boating/Fisheries $174,471,779.00 2,082 filings · 482 clients
  49. Accounting $155,067,723.00 423 filings · 125 clients
  50. Railroads $151,666,141.48 811 filings · 173 clients
  51. Medical/Disease Research/Clinical Labs $144,055,094.00 1,734 filings · 451 clients
  52. Utilities $123,960,773.54 1,032 filings · 265 clients
  53. Tobacco $113,820,461.00 651 filings · 91 clients
  54. Postal $108,005,329.00 468 filings · 105 clients
  55. Constitution $99,282,009.00 287 filings · 79 clients
  56. Travel/Tourism $87,094,717.02 662 filings · 142 clients
  57. Trucking/Shipping $83,138,605.78 456 filings · 121 clients
  58. Family issues/Abortion/Adoption $78,712,620.02 477 filings · 131 clients
  59. Animals $75,234,536.39 901 filings · 185 clients
  60. Bankruptcy $67,253,112.00 131 filings · 37 clients
  61. Advertising $67,188,394.00 211 filings · 54 clients
  62. Media (information/publishing) $64,388,149.85 318 filings · 72 clients
  63. Sports/Athletics $58,558,332.00 877 filings · 205 clients
  64. Roads/Highway $55,403,159.78 664 filings · 186 clients
  65. Real Estate/Land Use/Conservation $52,369,951.45 1,112 filings · 299 clients
  66. Commodities (big ticket) $49,503,000.00 242 filings · 72 clients
  67. Waste (hazardous/solid/interstate/nuclear) $45,962,258.00 308 filings · 94 clients
  68. Welfare $45,326,493.00 379 filings · 115 clients
  69. Firearms/Guns/Ammunition $41,954,856.16 351 filings · 85 clients
  70. Alcohol and Drug Abuse $40,128,289.00 329 filings · 89 clients
  71. Gaming/Gambling/Casino $36,798,500.00 581 filings · 126 clients
  72. Beverage Industry $33,175,693.00 348 filings · 71 clients
  73. Urban Development/Municipalities $31,637,404.00 1,521 filings · 380 clients
  74. Arts/Entertainment $23,282,704.77 425 filings · 123 clients
  75. Minting/Money/Gold Standard $15,765,000.00 77 filings · 25 clients
  76. District of Columbia $13,049,582.00 103 filings · 34 clients
  77. Unemployment $12,767,666.42 99 filings · 34 clients
  78. Apparel/Clothing Industry/Textiles $10,500,476.00 145 filings · 43 clients
  79. Religion $2,675,000.00 106 filings · 43 clients

Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings. Issue areas are the filers' own LDA general-issue codes. Money fields are self-reported and often rounded or left blank.

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