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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 $1,271,275,013.73 6,375 filings · 2,622 clients
  2. Budget/Appropriations $1,092,056,033.66 12,639 filings · 5,879 clients
  3. Trade (domestic/foreign) $968,717,665.01 4,898 filings · 2,152 clients
  4. Health Issues $874,326,894.78 7,819 filings · 3,271 clients
  5. Defense $663,713,185.54 7,202 filings · 3,231 clients
  6. Energy/Nuclear $584,882,669.21 4,256 filings · 1,871 clients
  7. Medicare/Medicaid $547,074,787.96 3,727 filings · 1,521 clients
  8. Transportation $509,016,251.15 3,971 filings · 1,897 clients
  9. Environment/Superfund $496,598,504.36 2,597 filings · 1,229 clients
  10. Financial Institutions/Investments/Securities $494,428,444.00 2,810 filings · 1,149 clients
  11. Labor Issues/Antitrust/Workplace $482,602,923.75 2,038 filings · 942 clients
  12. Homeland Security $380,941,280.96 1,521 filings · 730 clients
  13. Copyright/Patent/Trademark $376,561,891.00 937 filings · 380 clients
  14. Science/Technology $365,991,789.00 2,301 filings · 1,084 clients
  15. Immigration $351,948,935.31 1,077 filings · 512 clients
  16. Telecommunications $343,138,894.00 1,536 filings · 602 clients
  17. Banking $311,050,268.00 1,460 filings · 624 clients
  18. Education $292,656,723.00 2,742 filings · 1,289 clients
  19. Government Issues $291,070,458.91 1,906 filings · 955 clients
  20. Consumer Issues/Safety/Products $289,986,955.00 1,171 filings · 514 clients
  21. Agriculture $280,023,989.90 2,723 filings · 1,255 clients
  22. Foreign Relations $239,791,726.35 1,183 filings · 584 clients
  23. Housing $210,851,693.46 1,398 filings · 666 clients
  24. Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice $209,175,606.46 1,038 filings · 492 clients
  25. Aviation/Airlines/Airports $203,229,726.00 1,239 filings · 541 clients
  26. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties $177,104,173.00 382 filings · 196 clients
  27. Natural Resources $169,891,344.90 2,311 filings · 1,124 clients
  28. Manufacturing $169,472,875.00 1,543 filings · 754 clients
  29. Small Business $166,783,970.00 693 filings · 332 clients
  30. Computer Industry $159,785,148.96 1,051 filings · 458 clients
  31. Retirement $155,907,224.50 514 filings · 226 clients
  32. Insurance $155,246,388.00 732 filings · 307 clients
  33. Automotive Industry $153,009,954.00 487 filings · 193 clients
  34. Food Industry (safety, labeling, etc.) $152,927,984.42 716 filings · 332 clients
  35. Pharmacy $146,323,592.94 752 filings · 339 clients
  36. Aerospace $144,284,395.00 620 filings · 296 clients
  37. Veterans $144,033,380.69 1,043 filings · 502 clients
  38. Tariff (miscellaneous tariff bills) $129,607,471.00 763 filings · 392 clients
  39. Torts $113,570,461.00 146 filings · 68 clients
  40. Communications/Broadcasting/Radio/TV $113,525,588.85 560 filings · 218 clients
  41. Clean Air and Water (quality) $108,736,691.61 880 filings · 449 clients
  42. Intelligence $97,964,802.29 330 filings · 170 clients
  43. Economics/Economic Development $95,479,376.00 874 filings · 465 clients
  44. Fuel/Gas/Oil $82,003,754.59 487 filings · 242 clients
  45. Indian/Native American Affairs $77,327,050.00 800 filings · 362 clients
  46. Marine/Maritime/Boating/Fisheries $74,934,407.00 902 filings · 428 clients
  47. Medical/Disease Research/Clinical Labs $70,329,352.00 730 filings · 361 clients
  48. Chemicals/Chemical Industry $70,002,777.91 388 filings · 182 clients
  49. Disaster Planning/Emergencies $64,654,328.00 668 filings · 348 clients
  50. Accounting $60,991,300.00 159 filings · 85 clients
  51. Constitution $56,476,678.00 115 filings · 60 clients
  52. Railroads $44,200,953.52 351 filings · 156 clients
  53. Utilities $43,937,637.03 429 filings · 213 clients
  54. Tobacco $43,328,780.00 266 filings · 77 clients
  55. Postal $40,898,459.00 201 filings · 90 clients
  56. Trucking/Shipping $33,882,525.15 185 filings · 91 clients
  57. Travel/Tourism $29,009,207.00 270 filings · 112 clients
  58. Sports/Athletics $28,815,649.00 375 filings · 183 clients
  59. Advertising $28,330,101.00 84 filings · 40 clients
  60. Animals $27,263,247.94 367 filings · 161 clients
  61. Media (information/publishing) $22,964,967.85 101 filings · 53 clients
  62. Alcohol and Drug Abuse $22,513,257.00 134 filings · 63 clients
  63. Welfare $22,001,213.00 172 filings · 92 clients
  64. Roads/Highway $20,842,476.15 272 filings · 146 clients
  65. Real Estate/Land Use/Conservation $20,686,719.00 445 filings · 230 clients
  66. Firearms/Guns/Ammunition $20,548,304.00 136 filings · 68 clients
  67. Commodities (big ticket) $18,850,000.00 124 filings · 64 clients
  68. Waste (hazardous/solid/interstate/nuclear) $18,557,041.00 141 filings · 74 clients
  69. Gaming/Gambling/Casino $17,830,000.00 279 filings · 119 clients
  70. Bankruptcy $16,571,303.00 54 filings · 27 clients
  71. Family issues/Abortion/Adoption $14,282,629.45 208 filings · 109 clients
  72. Beverage Industry $13,675,970.00 146 filings · 55 clients
  73. Urban Development/Municipalities $13,116,418.00 621 filings · 327 clients
  74. Minting/Money/Gold Standard $12,109,000.00 40 filings · 22 clients
  75. Arts/Entertainment $9,294,413.00 185 filings · 94 clients
  76. District of Columbia $6,047,993.00 51 filings · 33 clients
  77. Apparel/Clothing Industry/Textiles $3,798,121.00 59 filings · 28 clients
  78. Unemployment $2,264,746.00 41 filings · 23 clients
  79. Religion $1,183,376.00 51 filings · 27 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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