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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 $1,258,438,428.73 6,250 filings · 2,591 clients
  2. Budget/Appropriations $1,078,212,660.66 12,321 filings · 5,819 clients
  3. Trade (domestic/foreign) $961,211,190.01 4,788 filings · 2,112 clients
  4. Health Issues $867,283,576.78 7,606 filings · 3,219 clients
  5. Defense $654,074,339.54 6,910 filings · 3,152 clients
  6. Energy/Nuclear $576,159,890.21 4,125 filings · 1,833 clients
  7. Medicare/Medicaid $541,879,926.96 3,604 filings · 1,489 clients
  8. Transportation $503,121,029.00 3,873 filings · 1,874 clients
  9. Financial Institutions/Investments/Securities $492,488,274.00 2,735 filings · 1,129 clients
  10. Environment/Superfund $490,929,693.36 2,534 filings · 1,209 clients
  11. Labor Issues/Antitrust/Workplace $477,843,923.75 1,979 filings · 921 clients
  12. Homeland Security $375,824,530.96 1,469 filings · 713 clients
  13. Copyright/Patent/Trademark $374,345,866.00 918 filings · 375 clients
  14. Science/Technology $364,529,243.00 2,229 filings · 1,051 clients
  15. Immigration $350,113,255.31 1,047 filings · 507 clients
  16. Telecommunications $340,212,869.00 1,495 filings · 590 clients
  17. Banking $309,110,268.00 1,405 filings · 612 clients
  18. Education $290,760,188.00 2,656 filings · 1,272 clients
  19. Consumer Issues/Safety/Products $289,766,955.00 1,146 filings · 505 clients
  20. Government Issues $289,683,233.91 1,827 filings · 931 clients
  21. Agriculture $274,017,107.14 2,608 filings · 1,234 clients
  22. Foreign Relations $235,357,665.35 1,130 filings · 563 clients
  23. Housing $210,032,693.46 1,354 filings · 654 clients
  24. Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice $206,965,631.46 1,003 filings · 478 clients
  25. Aviation/Airlines/Airports $202,378,066.00 1,205 filings · 529 clients
  26. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties $175,853,673.00 363 filings · 193 clients
  27. Manufacturing $168,277,197.00 1,475 filings · 715 clients
  28. Small Business $166,583,970.00 677 filings · 325 clients
  29. Natural Resources $165,955,263.90 2,207 filings · 1,098 clients
  30. Computer Industry $159,590,148.96 1,014 filings · 436 clients
  31. Retirement $155,282,224.50 504 filings · 224 clients
  32. Insurance $154,106,388.00 715 filings · 301 clients
  33. Automotive Industry $152,204,954.00 475 filings · 187 clients
  34. Food Industry (safety, labeling, etc.) $152,197,984.42 693 filings · 322 clients
  35. Pharmacy $145,775,092.94 729 filings · 330 clients
  36. Aerospace $143,496,742.00 592 filings · 292 clients
  37. Veterans $143,079,480.69 1,003 filings · 491 clients
  38. Tariff (miscellaneous tariff bills) $127,072,471.00 725 filings · 373 clients
  39. Communications/Broadcasting/Radio/TV $112,875,588.85 550 filings · 215 clients
  40. Torts $112,630,461.00 143 filings · 66 clients
  41. Clean Air and Water (quality) $107,420,704.46 841 filings · 442 clients
  42. Intelligence $97,762,724.29 313 filings · 167 clients
  43. Economics/Economic Development $94,944,376.00 837 filings · 452 clients
  44. Fuel/Gas/Oil $80,978,021.59 462 filings · 228 clients
  45. Indian/Native American Affairs $75,298,050.00 747 filings · 355 clients
  46. Marine/Maritime/Boating/Fisheries $73,050,671.00 877 filings · 420 clients
  47. Chemicals/Chemical Industry $69,936,777.91 381 filings · 179 clients
  48. Medical/Disease Research/Clinical Labs $69,374,991.00 699 filings · 352 clients
  49. Disaster Planning/Emergencies $64,374,578.00 649 filings · 342 clients
  50. Accounting $60,868,800.00 146 filings · 80 clients
  51. Constitution $56,401,678.00 107 filings · 59 clients
  52. Tobacco $43,208,780.00 259 filings · 74 clients
  53. Utilities $42,747,877.03 414 filings · 211 clients
  54. Railroads $42,302,220.52 340 filings · 155 clients
  55. Postal $40,808,459.00 194 filings · 88 clients
  56. Trucking/Shipping $33,577,731.00 176 filings · 88 clients
  57. Travel/Tourism $28,999,207.00 265 filings · 112 clients
  58. Sports/Athletics $28,680,649.00 368 filings · 180 clients
  59. Advertising $28,287,601.00 82 filings · 39 clients
  60. Animals $27,138,997.94 347 filings · 157 clients
  61. Media (information/publishing) $22,824,972.85 98 filings · 52 clients
  62. Alcohol and Drug Abuse $22,438,257.00 128 filings · 62 clients
  63. Welfare $21,836,213.00 164 filings · 89 clients
  64. Roads/Highway $20,662,682.00 264 filings · 143 clients
  65. Firearms/Guns/Ammunition $20,498,304.00 134 filings · 67 clients
  66. Real Estate/Land Use/Conservation $20,304,580.00 420 filings · 220 clients
  67. Commodities (big ticket) $18,750,000.00 116 filings · 62 clients
  68. Waste (hazardous/solid/interstate/nuclear) $18,457,041.00 134 filings · 73 clients
  69. Gaming/Gambling/Casino $17,575,000.00 266 filings · 117 clients
  70. Bankruptcy $16,556,303.00 53 filings · 27 clients
  71. Family issues/Abortion/Adoption $14,190,746.45 198 filings · 106 clients
  72. Beverage Industry $13,542,427.00 136 filings · 53 clients
  73. Urban Development/Municipalities $12,952,908.00 609 filings · 324 clients
  74. Minting/Money/Gold Standard $12,079,000.00 39 filings · 22 clients
  75. Arts/Entertainment $9,255,413.00 173 filings · 90 clients
  76. District of Columbia $6,035,993.00 49 filings · 32 clients
  77. Apparel/Clothing Industry/Textiles $3,798,121.00 58 filings · 28 clients
  78. Unemployment $2,264,746.00 38 filings · 22 clients
  79. Religion $1,103,376.00 46 filings · 26 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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