❗Let's close the gap: We still need your help to raise $40,000 by April 1. Donate now

As Amazon grows, so does its lobbying budget

Jul 21, 2017
Amazon just keeps growing. So does its spending on lobbying in support of policies it thinks will aid that growth. Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show the company is on track to spend $12 million lobbying this year, $1 million more than it spent in 2016. What’s on Amazon’s wish list? Click the […]

How Google expands its influence by paying professors

Jul 12, 2017
Lobbying comes in many forms. It can be meetings and phone calls or quiet chats in the corridors of power. Or academic papers. A story in the Wall Street Journal today highlights how Google’s Washington-based lobbying shop uses scholarly work to expand its influence. The Wall Street Journal’s Brody Mullins had the story. He talked […]

That whole Panama Papers scandal? The U.S. also needs to take a look at itself

May 19, 2017
Similar tactics to hide money are taking place in states like Delaware.
Public trust in government is at a historic low, according to a recent Pew survey.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

NFL players lobby Congress for criminal justice reform

Mar 30, 2017
Anquan Boldin and Malcolm Jenkins are using their muscle to help push through bipartisan bills.
NFL players Anquan Boldin and Malcolm Jenkins have twice lobbied Congress for criminal justice reform.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Why a 'Big Candy' industry meeting is ethically sticky

Mar 8, 2017
The National Confectioners Association is meeting in a Trump hotel to craft their plan for lobbying Trump.
Joe Readle/Getty Images

The fight for the dairy aisle turns on the question: 'What’s milk?'

Mar 3, 2017
With the proliferation of products calling themselves milk (soy, almond, rice, coconut), dairy farmers are now lobbying Congress to limit the use of the word to the stuff that comes from lactating animals, namely cows.  And the makers of the plant-based drinks want to keep milking the term, so they’re pushing back. The Wall Street […]

Why President Trump will keep lobbyists especially busy

Jan 26, 2017
In Washington, D.C., lobbyists are in a frenzy.
President Donald Trump signs two executive orders during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security with Vice President Mike Pence, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and other officials on Jan. 25 in Washington, D.C.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Is Donald Trump 'draining the swamp'?

Dec 14, 2016
We checked in with one nonpartisan organization.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at the "USA Thank You Tour 2016" at the Wisconsin State Fair Exposition Center on Tuesday.
DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images

Trump video address raises questions on regulation

Nov 22, 2016
Donald Trump says he’ll start ending regulations on day one in office, but how will it work?
Donald Trump speaks during a Virginia campaign back in September.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Wall Street spending sets new record in presidential campaign

Oct 26, 2016
Wall Street has spent $1.4 billion on donations and lobbying this election, more than twice the contributions by any other industry, according to a new study by Americans for Financial reform. That works out to $2.3 million per day from January 2015 to September 2016. And it wasn’t banks that led the effort, despite the […]
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images