Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems? 💸
Business As Usual?
Business As Usual?
The Iowa Caucus is today. It’s a time when gymnasiums are filled with potential voters being shouted at to come to each campaign’s corner. So sad we can’t make it.
Meanwhile, influence in American politics usually doesn’t happen with all the yelling; it’s more about the $$$. And the money stacks have been on an upward trend. According to Bloomberg Gov, more than $3.4 billion were spent on lobbying in 2019. It was the most since 2010.
The top spenders in 2019 were:
For Companies: Facebook ranked the highest (they just want Trump to stop Tweeting, right?) upping their spend to nearly $17 million, up from $12.6 million. They seemed very interested in the Honest Ads Act for instance. Then there was Amazon, Boeing, Comcast, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and AT&T. Technology, Aerospace and Defense, Telecommunications, oh my!
For Associations: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranked number one (they represent business interests…typically big oil’s) with more than $58 million spent.
And according to Lee Drutman, author of the book, The Business of America Is Lobbying: How Corporations Became Politicized and Politics Became More Corporate:
95 of the 100 top-spending lobbying organizations represent corporations
Companies outspend labor unions and public-interest entities 34-to-1
Just this past week, we’ve seen news about Epic, a healthcare software company HQ-ed in Wisconsin, opposing a federal rule that aims to give patients, and third-party app developers, easier access to digital record data. STAT calls “this lobbying battle — pitting EHR vendors such as Epic against tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon” one to watch.
And Microsoft came up again, this time from Geekwire: “Microsoft and its president, Brad Smith, have been pleading with regulators to enact laws governing artificial intelligence for months.” But when companies argue for regulations on their own industry, many are often skeptical as to whether they should be participating in making the rules that will govern them (see: Uber in California).
The US isn’t the only place with corporate lobbying: check out the European Union (and some examples) and other countries like Japan.
What Now?
Get the data. Sites like OpenSecrets and SourceWatch provide information on corporate lobbying in the U.S. (Note: this is where we got the information above on Facebook!)
Check the revolving door. See if your former congresspeople are now lobbyists and watch those organizations. Former Senator Barbara Boxer, for instance, has lobbied for Lyft in California since leaving her post.
Get better expertise on the Hill. According to Drutman, the solution is to pay congressional staffers more. Then they’ll gain expertise from staying at their jobs longer, causing them to be less dependent on lobbyists. This probably won’t solve everything … but he did write a whole book on lobbying!
Be wary of donations to political consultants and interest groups. Jill Lepore’s fantastic “The Lie Factory” chronicles the rise of political consultants and interest groups since the 1930s. Why is the American healthcare system the way it is? “Retained by the California Medical Association for an annual fee of twenty-five thousand dollars to campaign against the Governor’s plan, [Campaigns, Inc.] took a piece of legislation that most people liked and taught them to hate it.”
What Else?
How Trump’s Trade War Is Making Lobbyists Rich And Slamming Small Businesses
The Parental Leave Boomlet in the U.S. Is Leaving Women Behind
Remember that article we shared about SmileDirectClub? Legislators are looking into it and are planning to introduce new legislation soon to ban internet-only direct-to-consumer orthodontic products.