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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

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 $4,090,311,940.49 21,752 filings · 3,599 clients
  2. Budget/Appropriations $3,222,584,968.49 36,965 filings · 7,129 clients
  3. Trade (domestic/foreign) $2,785,992,128.41 14,087 filings · 2,606 clients
  4. Health Issues $2,575,939,964.72 22,979 filings · 3,956 clients
  5. Defense $1,801,344,418.80 19,553 filings · 3,859 clients
  6. Energy/Nuclear $1,661,183,540.51 12,427 filings · 2,357 clients
  7. Medicare/Medicaid $1,534,383,473.82 11,065 filings · 1,803 clients
  8. Transportation $1,488,071,241.91 11,492 filings · 2,314 clients
  9. Environment/Superfund $1,451,827,147.94 7,884 filings · 1,609 clients
  10. Financial Institutions/Investments/Securities $1,421,649,964.64 8,002 filings · 1,363 clients
  11. Labor Issues/Antitrust/Workplace $1,412,201,507.45 6,100 filings · 1,175 clients
  12. Homeland Security $1,055,249,206.74 4,432 filings · 962 clients
  13. Copyright/Patent/Trademark $1,047,323,915.02 2,718 filings · 439 clients
  14. Immigration $1,010,868,260.76 3,162 filings · 663 clients
  15. Telecommunications $990,905,102.33 4,603 filings · 751 clients
  16. Science/Technology $975,419,040.98 6,441 filings · 1,418 clients
  17. Government Issues $861,940,906.79 5,437 filings · 1,288 clients
  18. Education $847,632,555.91 8,147 filings · 1,535 clients
  19. Consumer Issues/Safety/Products $837,614,799.22 3,370 filings · 638 clients
  20. Agriculture $837,227,307.46 7,910 filings · 1,545 clients
  21. Banking $814,799,469.91 4,358 filings · 763 clients
  22. Foreign Relations $614,923,126.11 3,169 filings · 745 clients
  23. Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice $600,838,118.66 3,037 filings · 659 clients
  24. Aviation/Airlines/Airports $569,559,079.42 3,643 filings · 680 clients
  25. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties $513,791,890.55 1,235 filings · 283 clients
  26. Insurance $506,807,160.93 2,154 filings · 368 clients
  27. Housing $498,759,623.97 3,745 filings · 830 clients
  28. Manufacturing $498,661,200.00 4,270 filings · 994 clients
  29. Natural Resources $488,226,193.35 6,553 filings · 1,414 clients
  30. Small Business $458,399,568.24 2,043 filings · 445 clients
  31. Computer Industry $454,714,210.20 2,948 filings · 535 clients
  32. Retirement $454,273,175.92 1,556 filings · 264 clients
  33. Pharmacy $448,450,594.94 2,141 filings · 397 clients
  34. Automotive Industry $412,095,194.00 1,427 filings · 226 clients
  35. Veterans $411,105,898.77 2,971 filings · 624 clients
  36. Aerospace $386,640,024.32 1,744 filings · 414 clients
  37. Clean Air and Water (quality) $366,119,840.24 2,577 filings · 566 clients
  38. Tariff (miscellaneous tariff bills) $363,111,148.01 2,244 filings · 558 clients
  39. Food Industry (safety, labeling, etc.) $335,114,936.78 2,091 filings · 401 clients
  40. Communications/Broadcasting/Radio/TV $318,099,376.85 1,678 filings · 279 clients
  41. Economics/Economic Development $282,687,690.77 2,616 filings · 686 clients
  42. Torts $248,394,070.87 413 filings · 78 clients
  43. Fuel/Gas/Oil $243,350,002.09 1,366 filings · 308 clients
  44. Intelligence $242,163,791.29 903 filings · 216 clients
  45. Disaster Planning/Emergencies $220,834,046.32 2,046 filings · 510 clients
  46. Indian/Native American Affairs $220,085,597.12 2,267 filings · 429 clients
  47. Chemicals/Chemical Industry $214,675,610.73 1,124 filings · 221 clients
  48. Marine/Maritime/Boating/Fisheries $212,921,769.00 2,517 filings · 515 clients
  49. Accounting $205,958,523.00 494 filings · 140 clients
  50. Medical/Disease Research/Clinical Labs $182,970,124.00 2,072 filings · 474 clients
  51. Railroads $171,495,884.48 972 filings · 184 clients
  52. Constitution $148,070,687.00 337 filings · 85 clients
  53. Utilities $146,055,913.57 1,230 filings · 281 clients
  54. Tobacco $137,893,961.00 775 filings · 93 clients
  55. Postal $127,611,906.00 564 filings · 109 clients
  56. Travel/Tourism $101,941,792.02 790 filings · 148 clients
  57. Trucking/Shipping $99,074,864.78 540 filings · 127 clients
  58. Animals $88,467,360.39 1,067 filings · 192 clients
  59. Family issues/Abortion/Adoption $85,070,834.47 581 filings · 142 clients
  60. Advertising $81,873,983.00 251 filings · 58 clients
  61. Bankruptcy $76,059,303.00 161 filings · 39 clients
  62. Media (information/publishing) $74,952,139.85 357 filings · 73 clients
  63. Sports/Athletics $74,261,596.00 1,068 filings · 221 clients
  64. Roads/Highway $66,102,960.78 792 filings · 200 clients
  65. Real Estate/Land Use/Conservation $62,897,734.45 1,305 filings · 317 clients
  66. Commodities (big ticket) $60,468,000.00 303 filings · 78 clients
  67. Welfare $59,253,205.00 459 filings · 123 clients
  68. Waste (hazardous/solid/interstate/nuclear) $54,558,078.00 374 filings · 106 clients
  69. Alcohol and Drug Abuse $54,260,048.00 387 filings · 91 clients
  70. Firearms/Guns/Ammunition $52,814,002.16 416 filings · 89 clients
  71. Gaming/Gambling/Casino $45,885,500.00 711 filings · 132 clients
  72. Beverage Industry $40,162,693.00 410 filings · 74 clients
  73. Urban Development/Municipalities $38,034,638.00 1,808 filings · 395 clients
  74. Arts/Entertainment $28,276,858.77 504 filings · 128 clients
  75. Minting/Money/Gold Standard $21,959,000.00 95 filings · 28 clients
  76. District of Columbia $16,691,582.00 129 filings · 40 clients
  77. Unemployment $14,161,313.42 114 filings · 34 clients
  78. Apparel/Clothing Industry/Textiles $12,583,756.00 171 filings · 45 clients
  79. Religion $3,381,376.00 135 filings · 46 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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