According to reports filed with the Senate, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent $38.9 million lobbying Congress and government agencies in the third quarter of this year alone.
That includes the Chamber itself, which spent $34.7 million, and the Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform, which spent $4.2 million.
In the entire first half of 2009, by comparison, the Chamber and all of its subsidiaries spent $26.2 million.
The Chamber spent money on trying to influence both houses of Congress as well as the National Economic Council, National Security Council, Office of Management and Budget, Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. trade representative and the White House, plus the departments of Treasury, Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security and Justice — and that’s just on trade issues.
The organization has lobbied on health care, unemployment, climate change, international trade and a slew of other issues.
