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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

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 $2,836,495,511.76 15,485 filings · 3,365 clients
  2. Budget/Appropriations $2,149,111,307.83 24,629 filings · 6,224 clients
  3. Trade (domestic/foreign) $1,831,570,938.40 9,293 filings · 2,250 clients
  4. Health Issues $1,711,591,387.94 15,353 filings · 3,484 clients
  5. Defense $1,150,187,079.26 12,647 filings · 3,135 clients
  6. Energy/Nuclear $1,087,291,458.52 8,304 filings · 2,000 clients
  7. Medicare/Medicaid $995,753,546.86 7,452 filings · 1,649 clients
  8. Transportation $984,348,212.91 7,606 filings · 1,998 clients
  9. Environment/Superfund $962,627,454.58 5,349 filings · 1,401 clients
  10. Labor Issues/Antitrust/Workplace $935,739,583.70 4,120 filings · 1,030 clients
  11. Financial Institutions/Investments/Securities $928,641,690.64 5,251 filings · 1,144 clients
  12. Homeland Security $682,466,675.78 2,962 filings · 816 clients
  13. Copyright/Patent/Trademark $677,898,049.02 1,797 filings · 395 clients
  14. Immigration $660,627,005.45 2,116 filings · 574 clients
  15. Telecommunications $650,494,233.33 3,107 filings · 651 clients
  16. Science/Technology $614,149,797.98 4,213 filings · 1,146 clients
  17. Government Issues $572,479,672.88 3,611 filings · 1,055 clients
  18. Agriculture $564,578,950.32 5,287 filings · 1,350 clients
  19. Education $556,559,367.91 5,489 filings · 1,364 clients
  20. Consumer Issues/Safety/Products $547,767,844.22 2,222 filings · 537 clients
  21. Banking $506,882,201.91 2,944 filings · 666 clients
  22. Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice $393,872,487.20 2,034 filings · 552 clients
  23. Foreign Relations $384,705,460.76 2,041 filings · 574 clients
  24. Aviation/Airlines/Airports $369,933,013.42 2,430 filings · 578 clients
  25. Insurance $352,720,772.93 1,437 filings · 333 clients
  26. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties $337,878,217.55 861 filings · 236 clients
  27. Manufacturing $330,884,003.00 2,800 filings · 809 clients
  28. Natural Resources $324,050,929.45 4,347 filings · 1,197 clients
  29. Pharmacy $301,925,502.00 1,403 filings · 338 clients
  30. Retirement $299,082,951.42 1,050 filings · 240 clients
  31. Computer Industry $295,204,061.24 1,935 filings · 445 clients
  32. Small Business $291,595,598.24 1,358 filings · 373 clients
  33. Housing $288,866,930.51 2,395 filings · 655 clients
  34. Veterans $268,006,418.08 1,967 filings · 531 clients
  35. Automotive Industry $259,870,240.00 952 filings · 190 clients
  36. Clean Air and Water (quality) $258,699,135.78 1,736 filings · 479 clients
  37. Aerospace $246,205,282.32 1,152 filings · 328 clients
  38. Tariff (miscellaneous tariff bills) $241,058,677.01 1,523 filings · 487 clients
  39. Communications/Broadcasting/Radio/TV $208,463,788.00 1,128 filings · 237 clients
  40. Economics/Economic Development $187,723,314.77 1,778 filings · 577 clients
  41. Food Industry (safety, labeling, etc.) $182,886,952.36 1,396 filings · 344 clients
  42. Fuel/Gas/Oil $162,491,980.50 906 filings · 247 clients
  43. Disaster Planning/Emergencies $156,459,468.32 1,397 filings · 435 clients
  44. Accounting $145,089,723.00 348 filings · 113 clients
  45. Indian/Native American Affairs $144,757,547.12 1,519 filings · 371 clients
  46. Chemicals/Chemical Industry $144,738,832.82 743 filings · 187 clients
  47. Intelligence $144,401,067.00 590 filings · 170 clients
  48. Marine/Maritime/Boating/Fisheries $139,871,098.00 1,638 filings · 433 clients
  49. Torts $135,763,609.87 270 filings · 67 clients
  50. Railroads $129,193,663.96 631 filings · 153 clients
  51. Medical/Disease Research/Clinical Labs $113,655,133.00 1,377 filings · 402 clients
  52. Utilities $103,308,036.54 816 filings · 235 clients
  53. Tobacco $94,685,181.00 516 filings · 82 clients
  54. Constitution $91,669,009.00 230 filings · 72 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 $70,930,088.02 384 filings · 116 clients
  58. Trucking/Shipping $65,497,133.78 364 filings · 111 clients
  59. Animals $61,438,362.45 722 filings · 173 clients
  60. Bankruptcy $59,305,000.00 107 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. Sports/Athletics $45,580,947.00 700 filings · 190 clients
  64. Roads/Highway $45,428,278.78 526 filings · 160 clients
  65. Real Estate/Land Use/Conservation $42,593,154.45 885 filings · 266 clients
  66. Commodities (big ticket) $41,748,000.00 188 filings · 53 clients
  67. Welfare $37,416,992.00 295 filings · 95 clients
  68. Waste (hazardous/solid/interstate/nuclear) $36,101,037.00 240 filings · 77 clients
  69. Firearms/Guns/Ammunition $32,315,698.16 282 filings · 75 clients
  70. Alcohol and Drug Abuse $31,791,791.00 258 filings · 80 clients
  71. Gaming/Gambling/Casino $28,310,500.00 445 filings · 102 clients
  72. Beverage Industry $26,620,266.00 273 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. District of Columbia $10,655,589.00 80 filings · 27 clients
  77. Minting/Money/Gold Standard $9,880,000.00 56 filings · 21 clients
  78. Apparel/Clothing Industry/Textiles $8,785,635.00 117 filings · 39 clients
  79. Religion $2,238,000.00 84 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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