WASHINGTON – A new report by the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks spending in U.S. politics, shows the health care sector spent $444.7 million on federal lobbying in 2007, more than any other economic sector.
The pharmaceuticals-health products industry spent the most of any industry, $227 million, 25 percent more than in 2006. For the last decade, the industry has spent $1.3 billion – again, more than any other market segment.
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The second-biggest spender among industries in 2007 was insurance, which spent $138 million on lobbying, followed by electric utilities, which spent $112.7 million. Hospitals and nursing homes ranked fifth, spending $90.5 million. Health professionals spent $70 million, ranking 15th; and HMOs and health services spent $52 million, ranking 19th.
Looking at specific companies and organizations, the top spender was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, followed by General Electric, but Nos. 3 to 5 were all in the health sector: the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America ($22.7 million), the American Medical Association ($22.1 million) and the American Hospital Association ($19.7 million).
A Washington Post story on the report singled out Amgen Inc. for its “extraordinarily high” spending: $16.3 million, or No. 9 on the list, just ahead of General Motors – noteworthy for a company that was only ranked 171st on the latest Fortune 500 list.
The Post story reported that Amgen had more than 150 lobbyists on call, and that its spending on lobbyists had increased 58 percent over 2006.
The Center for Responsive Politics report shows it was a record year for federal lobbying in general, with $2.9 billion spent, up 7.7 percent from 2006. For every day Congress was in session, industries and interests spent an average of $17 million to lobby lawmakers and the federal government, the report shows.
“At a time when our economy is contracting, Washington’s lobbying industry has been expanding,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the 25-year-old watchdog group, in a news release. “Lobbying seems to be a recession-proof industry. In some respects, interests seek even more from our government when the economy slows.”
The Center for Responsive Politics calculated spending on lobbying as narrowly defined under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, because that is what is disclosed to the Senate Office of Public Records and House Legislative Resource Center.
Spending by corporations, industry groups, unions and other interests that is not strictly for lobbying of covered government officials, but is still meant to influence public policy, is not reported, according to the center, even though it may exceed what was spent on direct lobbying. Such activities include public relations, advertising and grassroots lobbying.
The Center for Responsive Politics is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose stated goal is “to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a more responsive government. It accepts no contributions from businesses, labor unions or trade associations. The center’s Lobbying Database, at OpenSecrets.org, now includes about 42,000 reports from 2007 that were available electronically from the U.S. Senate Office of Public Records, in addition to data going back to 1998.
