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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 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2001

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 $4,354,304,769 24,028 filings · 3,691 clients
  2. Budget/Appropriations $3,450,104,476 41,649 filings · 7,312 clients
  3. Trade (domestic/foreign) $2,988,850,576 16,000 filings · 2,744 clients
  4. Health Issues $2,761,312,920 25,987 filings · 4,140 clients
  5. Defense $2,007,467,846 22,519 filings · 4,088 clients
  6. Energy/Nuclear $1,809,243,980 14,093 filings · 2,481 clients
  7. Medicare/Medicaid $1,629,210,692 12,550 filings · 1,911 clients
  8. Transportation $1,605,458,111 13,030 filings · 2,393 clients
  9. Environment/Superfund $1,567,880,714 8,868 filings · 1,682 clients
  10. Financial Institutions/Investments/Securities $1,522,214,114 9,057 filings · 1,414 clients
  11. Labor Issues/Antitrust/Workplace $1,509,186,431 6,887 filings · 1,227 clients
  12. Homeland Security $1,143,741,577 5,031 filings · 1,018 clients
  13. Copyright/Patent/Trademark $1,119,349,750 3,072 filings · 450 clients
  14. Telecommunications $1,068,923,194 5,252 filings · 788 clients
  15. Immigration $1,064,344,889 3,515 filings · 690 clients
  16. Science/Technology $1,061,731,494 7,340 filings · 1,523 clients
  17. Consumer Issues/Safety/Products $927,837,101 3,846 filings · 663 clients
  18. Agriculture $906,676,011 8,963 filings · 1,607 clients
  19. Banking $903,958,229 4,906 filings · 798 clients
  20. Government Issues $899,834,768 6,216 filings · 1,377 clients
  21. Education $879,883,378 9,210 filings · 1,596 clients
  22. Foreign Relations $660,184,502 3,571 filings · 803 clients
  23. Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice $626,330,914 3,397 filings · 694 clients
  24. Aviation/Airlines/Airports $608,460,863 4,122 filings · 706 clients
  25. Insurance $564,420,847 2,449 filings · 392 clients
  26. Housing $564,023,230 4,305 filings · 875 clients
  27. Natural Resources $546,978,370 7,522 filings · 1,506 clients
  28. Manufacturing $542,186,118 4,917 filings · 1,077 clients
  29. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties $501,575,520 1,323 filings · 290 clients
  30. Computer Industry $493,448,944 3,421 filings · 608 clients
  31. Small Business $485,125,299 2,291 filings · 470 clients
  32. Retirement $474,386,202 1,757 filings · 268 clients
  33. Pharmacy $471,846,443 2,443 filings · 424 clients
  34. Veterans $437,556,329 3,367 filings · 655 clients
  35. Automotive Industry $424,478,434 1,605 filings · 235 clients
  36. Aerospace $412,200,836 1,977 filings · 435 clients
  37. Tariff (miscellaneous tariff bills) $403,954,179 2,552 filings · 600 clients
  38. Clean Air and Water (quality) $386,562,947 2,919 filings · 598 clients
  39. Food Industry (safety, labeling, etc.) $361,444,144 2,390 filings · 434 clients
  40. Communications/Broadcasting/Radio/TV $348,142,791 1,915 filings · 293 clients
  41. Economics/Economic Development $309,399,954 2,951 filings · 727 clients
  42. Fuel/Gas/Oil $284,199,156 1,570 filings · 345 clients
  43. Intelligence $273,889,872 1,039 filings · 230 clients
  44. Torts $252,156,140 457 filings · 82 clients
  45. Chemicals/Chemical Industry $240,083,242 1,273 filings · 227 clients
  46. Marine/Maritime/Boating/Fisheries $237,612,463 2,891 filings · 537 clients
  47. Disaster Planning/Emergencies $227,927,669 2,322 filings · 543 clients
  48. Indian/Native American Affairs $214,287,485 2,610 filings · 441 clients
  49. Medical/Disease Research/Clinical Labs $207,962,364 2,358 filings · 505 clients
  50. Accounting $190,076,275 542 filings · 148 clients
  51. Railroads $189,522,507 1,122 filings · 193 clients
  52. Constitution $155,029,907 370 filings · 86 clients
  53. Tobacco $148,370,630 874 filings · 97 clients
  54. Utilities $142,706,701 1,388 filings · 290 clients
  55. Postal $134,500,178 649 filings · 113 clients
  56. Trucking/Shipping $115,622,004 618 filings · 135 clients
  57. Travel/Tourism $111,103,539 896 filings · 152 clients
  58. Advertising $93,572,454 282 filings · 61 clients
  59. Animals $91,372,046 1,182 filings · 205 clients
  60. Bankruptcy $87,843,970 184 filings · 38 clients
  61. Sports/Athletics $85,117,028 1,224 filings · 230 clients
  62. Media (information/publishing) $77,886,006 379 filings · 76 clients
  63. Roads/Highway $71,774,917 897 filings · 211 clients
  64. Real Estate/Land Use/Conservation $68,920,711 1,477 filings · 340 clients
  65. Welfare $65,457,990 523 filings · 132 clients
  66. Waste (hazardous/solid/interstate/nuclear) $64,045,387 430 filings · 110 clients
  67. Alcohol and Drug Abuse $63,917,048 444 filings · 96 clients
  68. Family issues/Abortion/Adoption $63,052,932 652 filings · 146 clients
  69. Commodities (big ticket) $61,719,500 338 filings · 81 clients
  70. Gaming/Gambling/Casino $54,044,000 836 filings · 138 clients
  71. Firearms/Guns/Ammunition $53,725,342 469 filings · 94 clients
  72. Beverage Industry $44,455,768 468 filings · 77 clients
  73. Urban Development/Municipalities $43,606,048 2,066 filings · 408 clients
  74. Arts/Entertainment $30,608,511 569 filings · 132 clients
  75. Minting/Money/Gold Standard $27,199,000 110 filings · 28 clients
  76. District of Columbia $16,361,861 139 filings · 41 clients
  77. Unemployment $15,413,404 126 filings · 35 clients
  78. Apparel/Clothing Industry/Textiles $14,517,446 204 filings · 48 clients
  79. Religion $4,111,641 139 filings · 47 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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