Portal:Lobbying in the United States
Portal maintenance status: (October 2018)
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Introduction
Lobbying in the United States describes paid activity in which special interests hire well-connected professional advocates, often lawyers, to argue for specific legislation in decision-making bodies such as the United States Congress. It is a highly controversial phenomenon, often seen in a negative light by journalists and the American public, with some critics describing it as a legal form of bribery or extortion. While lobbying is subject to extensive and often complex rules which, if not followed, can lead to penalties including jail, the activity of lobbying has been interpreted by court rulings as constitutionally protected free speech and a way to petition the government for the redress of grievances, two of the freedoms protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Since the 1970s, lobbying activity has grown immensely in the United States in terms of the numbers of lobbyists and the size of lobbying budgets, and has become the focus of much criticism of American governance.
Since lobbying rules require extensive disclosure, there is a large amount of information in the public sphere about which entities lobby, how, at whom, and for how much. The current pattern suggests much lobbying is done primarily by corporations, although a wide variety of coalitions representing diverse groups also occurs. Lobbying takes place at every level of government, including federal, state, county, municipal, and even local governments. In Washington, D.C., lobbying usually targets members of Congress, although there have been efforts to influence executive agency officials as well as Supreme Court appointments. Lobbying can have an important influence on the political system; for example, a study in 2014 suggested that special interest lobbying enhanced the power of elite groups and was a factor shifting the nation's political structure toward an oligarchy in which average citizens have "little or no independent influence".
Selected general articles
- Tobacco politics refers to the politics surrounding the use and distribution of tobacco.
In the United States, from the 1950s until the 1990s, tobacco industries wielded great influence in shaping public opinion on the health risks of tobacco. Despite the efforts of public health advocates, scientists, and those affected by smoking, both Congress and courts favored the tobacco industry in policy and litigation. It was not until the 1990s when public health advocates had more success in litigating against tobacco industries, including the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between major tobacco companies and 46 state attorneys general. Although public opinion in the United States on cigarette smoking is more unfavorable, many large tobacco companies continue to find success internationally. Read more... - Labor unions in the United States are organizations that represent workers in many industries recognized under US labor law. Their activity today centers on collective bargaining over wages, benefits, and working conditions for their membership, and on representing their members in disputes with management over violations of contract provisions. Larger trade unions also typically engage in lobbying activities and electioneering at the state and federal level.fact October 2018 date=October 2017
Most unions in the United States are aligned with one of two larger umbrella organizations: the AFL-CIO created in 1955, and the Change to Win Federation which split from the AFL-CIO in 2005. Both advocate policies and legislation on behalf of workers in the United States and Canada, and take an active role in politics. The AFL-CIO is especially concerned with global trade issues. Read more... - LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century and influential in achieving social progress for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people. Read more...
- Campaign finance in the United States is the financing of electoral campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, campaign finance law is enacted by Congress and enforced by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), an independent federal agency. Although most campaign spending is privately financed, public financing is available for qualifying candidates for President of the United States during both the primaries and the general election. Eligibility requirements must be fulfilled to qualify for a government subsidy, and those that do accept government funding are usually subject to spending limits on money.
Races for non-federal offices are governed by state and local law. Over half the states allow some level of corporate and union contributions. Some states have limits on contributions from individuals that are lower than the national limits, while four states (Missouri, Oregon, Utah and Virginia) have no limits at all. This article deals primarily with campaigns for federal office. Read more...
Insurance companies may be classified into two groups:- Life insurance companies, which sell life insurance, annuities and pensions products.
- Non-life or property/casualty insurance companies, which sell other types of insurance.
General insurance companies can be further divided into these sub categories.- Standard lines
- Excess lines
John Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, at the podium during the group's 2007 national convention
The Israel lobby (at times called the Zionist lobby) is the diverse coalition of those who, as individuals and/or as groups, seek to influence the foreign policy of the United States in support of Israel or the policies of the government of Israel. The lobby consists of secular, Christian, and Jewish-American individuals and groups. The largest pro-Israel lobbying group is Christians United for Israel; the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a leading organization within the lobby, speaking on behalf of a coalition of American Jewish groups. Read more...- A legislative scorecard, in North American parlance, refers to any ranked balanced scorecard used by advocacy groups to rank sitting legislators or candidates for legislative office on their voting record. It is also used to refer to ranked indexes of introduced or ratified legislation on certain criteria.
Scorecards are usually aggregated on an annual basis, and are often composed by political advocacy groups as educative tools for voters in their decision-making at the ballot box. They are also useful for endorsement of candidates by other organizations. Read more... - The Pakistan lobby in the United States refers to the professional lobbyists paid directly by the government of Pakistan to lobby the public and government of the United States on behalf of Pakistani interests and/or on behalf of Pakistani American rights and interests. Read more...
- The term Jewish lobby is used to describe organized lobbying attributed to Jews on domestic and foreign policy decisions, as a political participant of representative government, conducted predominantly in the Jewish diaspora in a number of Western countries. While at times self-described, usage of the term is viewed as inaccurate, and, particularly when used to allege disproportionate Jewish influence, it can be perceived as pejorative or may constitute antisemitism. Read more...
Transportation in the United States is facilitated by road, air, rail, and waterways (via boats). The vast majority of passenger travel occurs by automobile for shorter distances, and airplane (or railroad for some people) for longer distances. In descending order, most cargoes travel by railroad, truck, pipeline, or boat; air shipping is typically used only for perishables and premium express shipments. Read more...- Elected officials and political parties cannot give more than the federal limit directly to candidates. However, they can set up a Leadership PAC that makes independent expenditures. Provided the expenditure is not coordinated with the other candidate, this type of spending is not limited.
Under the FEC (Federal Election Commission) rules, leadership PACs are non-connected PACs, and can accept donations from individuals and other PACs. Since current officeholders have an easier time attracting contributions, Leadership PACs are a way dominant parties can capture seats from other parties. A leadership PAC sponsored by an elected official cannot use funds to support that official's own campaign. However, it may fund travel, administrative expenses, consultants, polling, and other non-campaign expenses. Read more... - Software lobbying groups lobby governments and advocate generally to influence technology policy decisions on behalf of their members.
- Free Software Foundation
- Campaign for Creativity
- Association for Competitive Technology
- European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association (EICTA), now DigitalEurope
- Business Software Alliance
- Initiative for Software Choice
- Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA)
- Gun politics is an area of American politics defined by two primary opposing ideologies about civilian gun ownership. People who advocate for gun control support increasing regulations related to gun ownership; people who advocate for gun rights support decreasing regulations related to gun ownership. These groups often disagree on the interpretation of laws and court cases related to firearms as well as about the effects of firearms regulation on crime and public safety. It has been estimated that U.S. civilians own 393 million firearms, and that 35% to 42% of the households in the country have at least one gun. The US has the highest estimated number of guns per capita, at 120.5 guns for every 100 people.
The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects individual gun ownership. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Read more... - The Irish American lobby is the loose coalition of groups and individuals who influence United States policy in both foreign and domestic affairs in support of causes related to Ireland and Irish American interests.
The main issues that have concerned the Irish American lobby historically have been support for Irish independence, support for the unification of Ireland, support for Catholic parochial schools, and winning increased quotas for immigration from Ireland. In areas with large Irish populations, the Irish lobby has worked through the Democratic Party. Read more...
In the United States today, the organized environmental movement is represented by a wide range of organizations sometimes called non-governmental organizations or NGOs. These organizations exist on local, national, and international scales. Environmental NGOs vary widely in political views and in the amount they seek to influence the environmental policy of the United States and other governments. The environmental movement today consists of both large national groups and also many smaller local groups with local concerns. Some resemble the old U.S. conservation movement - whose modern expression is The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society and National Geographic Society - American organizations with a worldwide influence. Read more...
Agriculture is a major industry in the United States, which is a net exporter of food. As of the 2007 census of agriculture, there were 2.2 million farms, covering an area of 922 million acres (3,730,000 km2), an average of 418 acres (169 hectares) per farm. Although agricultural activity occurs in every state in the union, it is particularly concentrated in the Great Plains, a vast expanse of flat, arable land in the center of the nation in the region around the Great Lakes known as the Corn Belt.
The U.S. was a leader in seed improvement i.e. hybridization and in expanding uses for crops from the work of George Washington Carver to the development of bioplastics and biofuels. The mechanization of farming and intensive farming have been major themes in U.S. history, including John Deere's steel plow, Cyrus McCormick's mechanical reaper, Eli Whitney's cotton gin to the widespread success of the Fordson tractor and the combine harvesters first made from them. Modern agriculture in the U.S. ranges from the common hobby farms, small-scale producers to large commercial farming covering thousands of acres of cropland or rangeland. Read more...- The Egypt lobby in the United States is a collection of lawyers, public relation firms and professional lobbyists paid directly by the government of Egypt to lobby the public and government of the United States on behalf of the interests of the government of Egypt.
A key goal of Egypt's lobbyists is to secure a large allocaton of foreign aid; more than $50 billion in American aid has gone to Egypt since 1975. According to ProPublica, this massive amount of American aid has "enabled" the Egyptian government to postpone democratic reform. Read more... - A tax protester, in the United States, is a person who denies that he or she owes a tax based on the belief that the Constitution, statutes, or regulations do not empower the government to impose, assess or collect the tax. The tax protester may have no dispute with how the government spends its revenue. This differentiates a tax protester from a tax resister, who seeks to avoid paying a tax because the tax is being used for purposes with which the resister takes issue. Read more...
- The Turkish lobby in the United States is a lobby that works on behalf of the Turkish government in promoting that nation's interests with the United States government. Read more...
- In United States politics, the China lobby is a phrase to describe special interest groups acting on behalf of the governments of either the People's Republic of China; or groups acting on the behalf of Republic of China (Taiwan) to influence Sino-American relations; or those in the U.S. who lobby for what they deem as pro Chinese American policies and closer Sino-American relations.
During much of the twentieth century, the term "China lobby" was used most often to refer to special interest groups acting on behalf of the Republic of China (ROC). Before increased Sino-American engagement following the 1972 Nixon visit to China, and the American recognition of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1979, the PRC lobby was overshadowed by representatives of Taiwan's interests. The then small Chinese American community largely shared a pro Taiwan perspective. Since that time, the PRC lobby has greatly strengthened, and by the 1990s, "China lobby" began to refer to special interest groups who work to achieve the PRC's desired political, economic, immigration policies in Sino-American relations by influencing American policy makers, economic interests and the public. Read more... - Homosexual agenda (or gay agenda) is a term introduced by sectors of the Christian religious right (primarily in the United States) as a disparaging way to describe the advocacy of cultural acceptance and normalization of non-heterosexual orientations and relationships. The term refers to efforts to change government policies and laws on LGBT rights-related issues. Additionally, it has been used by social conservatives and others to describe alleged goals of LGBT rights activists, such as recruiting heterosexuals into what they term a "homosexual lifestyle". Read more...
- AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) is a United States-based interest group whose stated mission is "to empower people to choose how they live as they age." According to the organization, it had more than 38 million members as of 2018.
AARP was founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus (a retired educator from California) and Leonard Davis (later the founder of the Colonial Penn Group of insurance companies). The association advocates for social change and provides information, advocacy, and service to its members. It is an important lobbying group in the United States. It updates special money-related information and a "fraudwatch" on its website, to warn people of scams. Its fraudwatch includes write-ups by Frank Abagnale, formerly of the FBI. Read more... - The Armenian American lobby is the diverse coalition of those who, as individuals and as groups, seek to influence the United States foreign policy in support of Armenia, Armenians or Armenian policies. One of its primary goals is for the United States to recognize the Armenian Genocide, but the Turkish and occasionally Israeli lobby have always successfully lobbied against this. Read more...
Immigration to the United States is the international movement of non-U.S. nationals in order to reside permanently in the country. Lawful immigration has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the U.S. history. Because the United States is a settler colonial society, all Americans, with the exception of the small percent of Native Americans, can trace their ancestry to immigrants from other nations around the world.
In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than any other country, with 47 million immigrants as of 2015. This represents 19.1% of the 244 million international migrants worldwide, and 14.4% of the U.S. population. Some other countries have larger proportions of immigrants, such as Switzerland with 24.9% and Canada with 21.9%. Read more...- A 527-organization or 527 group is a type of U.S. tax-exempt organization organized under Section 527 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 527). A 527 group is created primarily to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates to federal, state or local public office.
Technically, almost all political committees, including state, local, and federal candidate committees, traditional political action committees, "Super PACs", and political parties are "527s." However, in common practice the term is usually applied only to such organizations that are not regulated under state or federal campaign finance laws because they do not "expressly advocate" for the election or defeat of a candidate or party. Read more... - The Saudi Arabia lobby in the United States is a collection of lawyers, public relation firms and professional lobbyists paid directly by the government of Saudi Arabia to lobby the public and government of the United States on behalf of the interests of the government of Saudi Arabia. Read more...
- In the United States and Canada, a political action committee (PAC) is an organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation.
The legal term PAC has been created in pursuit of campaign finance reform in the United States. This term is quite specific to all activities of campaign finance in the United States. Democracies of other countries use different terms for the units of campaign spending or spending on political competition (see political finance). At the U.S. federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission, according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain-Feingold Act). At the state level, an organization becomes a PAC according to the state's election laws.- Contributions from corporate or labor union treasuries are illegal, though they may sponsor a PAC and provide financial support for its administration and fundraising;
- Union-affiliated PACs may only solicit contributions from members;
- Independent PACs may solicit contributions from the general public and must pay their own costs from those funds.
- Health care in the United States is provided by many distinct organizations. Health care facilities are largely owned and operated by private sector businesses. 58% of US community hospitals are non-profit, 21% are government owned, and 21% are for-profit. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States spent more on health care per capita ($9,403), and more on health care as percentage of its GDP (17.1%), than any other nation in 2014. Despite being among the top world economic powers, the US remains the sole industrialized nation in the world without universal health care coverage.
In 2013, 64% of health spending was paid for by the government, and funded via programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and the Veterans Health Administration. People aged under 67 acquire insurance via their or a family member's employer, by purchasing health insurance on their own, or are uninsured. Health insurance for public sector employees is primarily provided by the government in its role as employer. Read more... - The Arab lobby in the United States is a collection of formal and informal groups and professional lobbyists paid directly by Arab governments or Arab Citizens in the United States that lobby the public and government of the United States on behalf of Arab interests and/or on behalf of Arab American rights in the United States. Read more...
- The Libya lobby in the United States is a collection of lawyers, public relation firms and professional lobbyists paid directly by the government of Libya to lobby the public and government of the United States on behalf of the interests of the government of Libya.
The Libyan government has engaged a number of American firms who have disclosed their work under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, including White & Case, Blank Rome, The Livingston Group, and Monitor Group. In 2008, law firm White & Case gave Libya “a special 15 percent discount off of our standard rates” in its effort to cement a “significant relationship" with the Libyan government under led by Muammar Gaddafi. In 2008 and 2009, the Gaddafi government paid over $2 million to lobbyists White and Case, Blank Rome, and The Livingston Group, led by Former Congressman Bob Livingston, to lobby on their behalf. Read more... - The Greece lobby in the United States refers to the lawyers, public relation firms and professional lobbyists under the umbrella of the American Hellenic Institute that works behalf of the interests of the government of Greece. The formal establishment of the Greek Lobby is estimated to have started with the arrival of the first Greek Americans in 1768.
The aim of the Greek lobby is to promote the national interests of Greece in the United States Congress and to connect the whole of the Greek American community which amounds to approximately 1% of the whole US population.
With the beginning of the Credit crunch crisis in 2008 various organizations including high power individuals who mainly come from an American background are lobbying in support of Greek-U.S. ties. Read more...
"Fossil fuels lobby" is the umbrella term used to name the paid representatives of large fossil fuel (oil, gas, coal) and electric utilities corporations who attempt to influence governmental policy. So-called Big Oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Total S.A., Chevron Corporation, and ConocoPhillips are amongst the largest corporations associated with the fossil fuels lobby. General Electric, Southern Company, First Energy, and the Edison Electric Institute are also among the most influential electric utilities corporations. However, electric companies and big oil and gas companies are consistently not among the ten highest-spending lobbyists – the United States Chamber of Commerce is currently #1. By sector, "Energy/Nat Resource" comes fifth, behind "Misc Business", "Finance/Insur/RealEst", Health and "Communic/Electronics". Read more...- The United States abortion-rights movement (also known as the United States pro-choice movement) is a sociopolitical movement in the United States supporting the view that a woman should have the legal right to an elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy, and is part of a broader global abortion-rights movement. The pro-choice movement consists of a variety of organizations, with no single centralized decision-making body.
A key point in abortion rights in the United States was the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which struck down most state laws restricting abortion, thereby decriminalizing and legalizing elective abortion in a number of states. Read more...
The anti-Israel lobby is a term used by some who criticize those groups and individuals that oppose Israeli policies or United States foreign policy which they consider to be too favorable towards Israel. Those opposed to such policies state that they seek a more "even-handed" U.S. approach to the conflict in the Middle East.
Caroline Glick, managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, writes in an opinion column that recent years have seen "the emergence of a very committed and powerful anti-Israel lobby in Washington." However, critics of Israel's policies often object to the phrase “anti-Israel” being used in regards to such lobbying. Read more...- The Cuban-American lobby describes those various groups of Cuban exiles in the United States and their descendants who have historically influenced the United States' policy toward Cuba. In general usage this refers to anti-Castro groups. Read more...
Women's suffrage parade in New York City, May 6, 1912.
Feminism in the United States refers to the collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending a state of equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women in the United States. Feminism has had a massive influence on American politics. Feminism in the United States is often divided chronologically into first-wave, second-wave, third-wave, and fourth-wave feminism.
As of the most recent Gender Gap Index measurement of countries by the World Economic Forum in 2017, the United States is ranked 49th on gender equality. Read more...- The foreign policy of the United States is its interactions with foreign nations and how it sets standards of interaction for its organizations, corporations and system citizens of the United States.
The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States, including all the Bureaus and Offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the Foreign Policy Agenda of the Department of State, are "to build and sustain a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community." In addition, the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs states as some of its jurisdictional goals: "export controls, including nonproliferation of nuclear technology and nuclear hardware; measures to foster commercial interaction with foreign nations and to safeguard American business abroad; international commodity agreements; international education; and protection of American citizens abroad and expatriation." U.S. foreign policy and foreign aid have been the subject of much debate, praise and criticism, both domestically and abroad. Read more...
Did you know...
- ... that the 501(h) election allows many U.S. non-profit organizations to engage in unlimited lobbying as long as they do it cheaply?
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Selected images
The Federalist Papers, in which Framers Madison, Hamilton and Jay strove to sway public opinion, could be considered according to current usage as an outside lobbying effort.
Lobbying depends on cultivating personal relationships over many years. Photo: Lobbyist Tony Podesta (left) with former Senator Kay Hagan (center) and her husband.
Former convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff (left) listens to Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig in 2011.
Credit reporting agency Equifax lobbied Congress extensively in 2016 and 2017, giving thousands of dollars to the campaign of GOP representative Barry Loudermilk; Loudermilk, in turn, advanced legislation to roll back consumer protections and limit damage awards.
Defense contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin sell extensively to the government and must, of necessity, engage in lobbying to win contracts.
The National Association of Realtors is a special interest representing home-selling agents. Photo: its Washington headquarters.
The American Bar Association published a book about lobbying regulations.
Connections count: Congressman Tom Perriello with lobbyist Heather Podesta at an inauguration party for Barack Obama.
Senator Robert Byrd in 2005.
Lawmaker turned lobbyist: Democratic congressperson Dick Gephardt switched to lobbying and has been making millions annually working for clients such as Goldman Sachs.
Lobbyists collided over school lunches. Pizza can be served to schoolchildren since tomato paste can be considered as a vegetable and part of a healthy meal.
K Street NW at 19th Street in Washington D.C., the location of many "K Street lobbyist" and law firm office buildings.
Jack Abramoff was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation
This is what users saw when they tried to access English. Wikipedia on January 18, 2012. English Wikipedia participated in a lobbying campaign by blacking out the encyclopedia for a day, and encouraged users to contact congresspersons to support positions it favored as part of an outside lobbying effort.
Saudi Arabia spent at least $7.5 million lobbying against the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
Occupy Wall Street protesters have been critical of lobbying in government.
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