AARP leads Lobby
in
breaking
$1 billion spending mark
June 1, 2004 - One
billion dollars was spent by organizations lobbying the federal
government in the last half of 2003 and the AARP led the way in setting
this new record, according to records released today by
PoliticalMoneyLine.com.
The
biggest jump was caused by AARP that reported spending $16.38 million,
up from $4.5 million spent in the first half of 2003. AARP was lobbying
heavily on the prescription drug plan. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage
Corp (Freddie MAC) reported spending $9.96 million, up from $5.92
million spent in the first half of 2003. Freddie Mac was lobbying on
further regulation and structure of itself and its industry.
This is the largest
amount spent and the first time spending has passed the $1 billion mark.
This averages to over $171 million per month. This was up 6.6% from
spending in the first 6 months of 2003. Spending was reported for
lobbying Congress and the Executive branch.
For all of 2003
lobby spending was $1.99 billion, up 11.5% from the 2002 spending of
$1.78 billion.
PoliticalMoneyLine’s
Lobby Summary highlights the growth of lobbying from July 1998 to the
present. The previous six-month spending total was $963 million. For the
last six months of 2002 the total was $926 million.
PoliticalMoneyLine’s
lobby summary tables provide details on the major categories of
spending. The growth in the top three areas (Healthcare $151 million,
Finance/Insurance $135 million, and Communication/Technology $129
million) caused the record breaking total. Details on sub-category
totals and individual companies and groups are available to subscribers.
Late filers may push
the numbers higher. Rankings for lobbying firms and their clients may
also change slightly.