Trillion ‐​Dollar Spending Bills Bring Out the Lobbyists

David BoazThe Center for Responsive Politicsreports that lobbying spending has jumped to near ‐​record levels in the first quarter of 2020 “as powerful companies, trade groups and other clients rushed to influence the government’s response to COVID-19, particularly its $2.2 trillion stimulus bill.” Federal lobbying spending totaled $903 million in the first quarter, the most since the legislatively active first two years of the Obama administration — which had exceeded the last few months of 2008, when TARP was on the table.OpenSecrets found that at least 3,200 clients reported lobbying on issuesrelated to coronavirus and the stimulus bill. More than 1,500 lobbying clients specifically reported attempting to influence the House version of theCARES Act. Among all non ‐​appropriations bills introduced since 2005, only the 2009 stimulus package drew more lobbying clients.This is no surprise, of course. When you lay out a picnic, you get ants. When you lay out taxpayers ’ dollars, you get lobbyists. And the CARES Act is the biggest picnic in a decade. (I ’m not addressing here whether the money being spent on Covid‐​19 response is necessary or justified, just the fact that big spending bills lead to big lobbying.)Journalists have noticed. A few headlines from the past few weeks: “Coronavirus fuels K Street lobbying gush, new disclosures show ” (Politico). “How Lobbyists Robbed Small Business Relief Loans” (New York Times). “In...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs