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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 $662,918,931.77 3,215 filings · 2,453 clients
  2. Budget/Appropriations $555,190,040.61 6,477 filings · 5,540 clients
  3. Trade (domestic/foreign) $498,645,986.92 2,479 filings · 1,950 clients
  4. Health Issues $451,612,474.04 3,962 filings · 3,003 clients
  5. Defense $322,956,230.00 3,676 filings · 2,898 clients
  6. Medicare/Medicaid $290,677,868.47 1,858 filings · 1,416 clients
  7. Energy/Nuclear $283,325,812.59 2,157 filings · 1,689 clients
  8. Financial Institutions/Investments/Securities $249,944,972.00 1,424 filings · 1,052 clients
  9. Transportation $249,323,553.00 1,989 filings · 1,708 clients
  10. Environment/Superfund $244,888,433.40 1,306 filings · 1,113 clients
  11. Labor Issues/Antitrust/Workplace $242,270,264.75 1,009 filings · 846 clients
  12. Copyright/Patent/Trademark $191,364,219.00 470 filings · 359 clients
  13. Immigration $176,084,543.00 544 filings · 467 clients
  14. Homeland Security $175,697,628.00 767 filings · 649 clients
  15. Science/Technology $174,302,640.00 1,169 filings · 941 clients
  16. Telecommunications $162,766,110.00 776 filings · 554 clients
  17. Consumer Issues/Safety/Products $147,701,139.00 585 filings · 464 clients
  18. Education $140,235,813.00 1,386 filings · 1,182 clients
  19. Agriculture $137,260,960.46 1,351 filings · 1,125 clients
  20. Government Issues $128,622,121.91 974 filings · 844 clients
  21. Banking $125,997,866.00 756 filings · 586 clients
  22. Foreign Relations $112,955,239.07 600 filings · 499 clients
  23. Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice $96,257,140.69 518 filings · 433 clients
  24. Housing $95,774,425.69 691 filings · 574 clients
  25. Aviation/Airlines/Airports $94,629,112.00 626 filings · 490 clients
  26. Manufacturing $83,796,980.00 786 filings · 661 clients
  27. Insurance $82,182,699.00 369 filings · 285 clients
  28. Veterans $81,434,066.40 524 filings · 451 clients
  29. Pharmacy $80,255,645.94 381 filings · 309 clients
  30. Natural Resources $79,785,850.94 1,148 filings · 1,011 clients
  31. Computer Industry $79,585,346.00 520 filings · 387 clients
  32. Small Business $73,505,022.00 345 filings · 296 clients
  33. Automotive Industry $72,201,704.00 242 filings · 170 clients
  34. Retirement $69,330,616.50 252 filings · 208 clients
  35. Food Industry (safety, labeling, etc.) $68,494,894.40 355 filings · 299 clients
  36. Tariff (miscellaneous tariff bills) $65,421,639.00 388 filings · 347 clients
  37. Aerospace $64,282,859.00 320 filings · 268 clients
  38. Communications/Broadcasting/Radio/TV $62,580,038.85 277 filings · 191 clients
  39. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties $61,695,469.00 188 filings · 171 clients
  40. Clean Air and Water (quality) $58,575,484.46 442 filings · 407 clients
  41. Torts $52,871,469.00 69 filings · 59 clients
  42. Indian/Native American Affairs $43,886,677.00 392 filings · 330 clients
  43. Fuel/Gas/Oil $40,618,039.52 249 filings · 208 clients
  44. Intelligence $37,726,824.00 167 filings · 149 clients
  45. Disaster Planning/Emergencies $37,536,622.00 351 filings · 320 clients
  46. Chemicals/Chemical Industry $37,075,936.91 193 filings · 164 clients
  47. Marine/Maritime/Boating/Fisheries $35,160,681.00 448 filings · 385 clients
  48. Medical/Disease Research/Clinical Labs $31,969,961.00 366 filings · 325 clients
  49. Economics/Economic Development $26,989,161.00 461 filings · 415 clients
  50. Railroads $22,472,477.52 180 filings · 144 clients
  51. Tobacco $22,425,280.00 136 filings · 71 clients
  52. Postal $21,201,882.00 98 filings · 84 clients
  53. Utilities $20,682,737.00 219 filings · 196 clients
  54. Trucking/Shipping $17,641,472.00 93 filings · 82 clients
  55. Travel/Tourism $14,350,132.00 138 filings · 106 clients
  56. Sports/Athletics $13,942,385.00 180 filings · 159 clients
  57. Animals $13,906,173.94 181 filings · 144 clients
  58. Advertising $13,602,012.00 42 filings · 34 clients
  59. Media (information/publishing) $12,260,982.85 59 filings · 51 clients
  60. Roads/Highway $10,663,261.00 140 filings · 127 clients
  61. Accounting $10,028,000.00 76 filings · 64 clients
  62. Waste (hazardous/solid/interstate/nuclear) $9,881,221.00 70 filings · 60 clients
  63. Real Estate/Land Use/Conservation $9,776,797.00 228 filings · 202 clients
  64. Firearms/Guns/Ammunition $9,639,158.00 69 filings · 61 clients
  65. Commodities (big ticket) $8,755,000.00 64 filings · 53 clients
  66. Gaming/Gambling/Casino $8,506,000.00 138 filings · 109 clients
  67. Family issues/Abortion/Adoption $8,378,532.00 97 filings · 90 clients
  68. Alcohol and Drug Abuse $8,336,498.00 72 filings · 60 clients
  69. Bankruptcy $8,128,112.00 27 filings · 24 clients
  70. Welfare $7,939,501.00 85 filings · 77 clients
  71. Constitution $7,613,000.00 57 filings · 49 clients
  72. Beverage Industry $7,125,427.00 77 filings · 50 clients
  73. Urban Development/Municipalities $6,555,674.00 322 filings · 306 clients
  74. Minting/Money/Gold Standard $5,885,000.00 21 filings · 19 clients
  75. Arts/Entertainment $4,291,259.00 96 filings · 85 clients
  76. District of Columbia $3,229,993.00 26 filings · 26 clients
  77. Apparel/Clothing Industry/Textiles $1,714,841.00 32 filings · 26 clients
  78. Unemployment $871,099.00 23 filings · 21 clients
  79. Religion $487,000.00 28 filings · 22 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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