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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 $2,821,741,619.76 15,440 filings · 3,362 clients
  2. Budget/Appropriations $2,133,130,604.83 24,565 filings · 6,217 clients
  3. Trade (domestic/foreign) $1,820,120,943.40 9,274 filings · 2,248 clients
  4. Health Issues $1,702,706,007.94 15,301 filings · 3,481 clients
  5. Defense $1,143,204,768.26 12,588 filings · 3,130 clients
  6. Energy/Nuclear $1,081,598,270.30 8,282 filings · 1,997 clients
  7. Medicare/Medicaid $988,942,546.86 7,420 filings · 1,646 clients
  8. Transportation $981,754,837.91 7,586 filings · 1,994 clients
  9. Environment/Superfund $958,619,074.58 5,342 filings · 1,401 clients
  10. Labor Issues/Antitrust/Workplace $930,971,208.70 4,100 filings · 1,025 clients
  11. Financial Institutions/Investments/Securities $926,565,690.64 5,217 filings · 1,144 clients
  12. Homeland Security $678,316,675.78 2,958 filings · 815 clients
  13. Copyright/Patent/Trademark $672,178,049.02 1,793 filings · 395 clients
  14. Immigration $656,877,630.45 2,103 filings · 574 clients
  15. Telecommunications $649,644,233.33 3,106 filings · 651 clients
  16. Science/Technology $609,091,746.98 4,192 filings · 1,145 clients
  17. Government Issues $568,036,780.88 3,595 filings · 1,054 clients
  18. Agriculture $561,607,950.32 5,273 filings · 1,348 clients
  19. Education $554,249,987.91 5,458 filings · 1,363 clients
  20. Consumer Issues/Safety/Products $547,767,844.22 2,222 filings · 537 clients
  21. Banking $505,042,201.91 2,930 filings · 665 clients
  22. Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice $392,656,487.20 2,009 filings · 549 clients
  23. Foreign Relations $378,417,080.76 2,021 filings · 572 clients
  24. Aviation/Airlines/Airports $365,864,633.42 2,425 filings · 578 clients
  25. Insurance $352,445,772.93 1,431 filings · 333 clients
  26. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties $336,737,217.55 856 filings · 236 clients
  27. Manufacturing $329,744,003.00 2,787 filings · 807 clients
  28. Natural Resources $320,771,929.45 4,335 filings · 1,196 clients
  29. Pharmacy $301,565,502.00 1,397 filings · 336 clients
  30. Retirement $297,953,951.42 1,039 filings · 239 clients
  31. Computer Industry $294,494,061.24 1,932 filings · 445 clients
  32. Small Business $291,445,598.24 1,352 filings · 370 clients
  33. Housing $288,586,930.51 2,384 filings · 654 clients
  34. Veterans $265,780,418.08 1,960 filings · 531 clients
  35. Automotive Industry $259,840,240.00 951 filings · 190 clients
  36. Clean Air and Water (quality) $258,010,755.78 1,734 filings · 478 clients
  37. Aerospace $242,805,811.32 1,142 filings · 328 clients
  38. Tariff (miscellaneous tariff bills) $233,658,677.01 1,511 filings · 486 clients
  39. Communications/Broadcasting/Radio/TV $205,203,788.00 1,127 filings · 237 clients
  40. Economics/Economic Development $186,057,314.77 1,773 filings · 577 clients
  41. Food Industry (safety, labeling, etc.) $182,636,957.36 1,394 filings · 344 clients
  42. Fuel/Gas/Oil $162,371,980.50 902 filings · 246 clients
  43. Disaster Planning/Emergencies $156,459,468.32 1,397 filings · 435 clients
  44. Accounting $145,039,723.00 347 filings · 113 clients
  45. Indian/Native American Affairs $144,739,547.12 1,516 filings · 370 clients
  46. Chemicals/Chemical Industry $144,738,832.82 742 filings · 187 clients
  47. Intelligence $143,439,817.00 584 filings · 170 clients
  48. Marine/Maritime/Boating/Fisheries $139,311,098.00 1,634 filings · 431 clients
  49. Torts $135,075,229.87 269 filings · 67 clients
  50. Railroads $129,193,663.96 631 filings · 153 clients
  51. Medical/Disease Research/Clinical Labs $112,085,133.00 1,369 filings · 400 clients
  52. Utilities $103,308,036.54 815 filings · 234 clients
  53. Constitution $91,669,009.00 230 filings · 72 clients
  54. Tobacco $91,395,181.00 515 filings · 82 clients
  55. Postal $86,803,447.00 370 filings · 95 clients
  56. Travel/Tourism $72,744,585.02 524 filings · 125 clients
  57. Family issues/Abortion/Adoption $70,334,088.02 380 filings · 116 clients
  58. Trucking/Shipping $65,497,133.78 363 filings · 109 clients
  59. Animals $61,328,362.45 720 filings · 173 clients
  60. Bankruptcy $59,125,000.00 104 filings · 32 clients
  61. Advertising $53,586,382.00 169 filings · 48 clients
  62. Media (information/publishing) $52,127,167.00 259 filings · 68 clients
  63. Roads/Highway $44,739,898.78 524 filings · 159 clients
  64. Sports/Athletics $44,615,947.00 697 filings · 190 clients
  65. Real Estate/Land Use/Conservation $42,593,154.45 884 filings · 265 clients
  66. Commodities (big ticket) $40,748,000.00 179 filings · 53 clients
  67. Welfare $37,386,992.00 294 filings · 95 clients
  68. Waste (hazardous/solid/interstate/nuclear) $36,081,037.00 238 filings · 77 clients
  69. Firearms/Guns/Ammunition $32,315,698.16 282 filings · 75 clients
  70. Alcohol and Drug Abuse $31,791,791.00 257 filings · 79 clients
  71. Gaming/Gambling/Casino $28,292,500.00 443 filings · 102 clients
  72. Beverage Industry $26,050,266.00 271 filings · 63 clients
  73. Urban Development/Municipalities $25,081,730.00 1,199 filings · 339 clients
  74. Arts/Entertainment $18,991,445.77 330 filings · 103 clients
  75. Unemployment $11,896,567.42 76 filings · 26 clients
  76. Minting/Money/Gold Standard $9,880,000.00 56 filings · 21 clients
  77. District of Columbia $9,819,589.00 77 filings · 27 clients
  78. Apparel/Clothing Industry/Textiles $8,785,635.00 113 filings · 37 clients
  79. Religion $2,188,000.00 79 filings · 33 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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