By Indy Scholtens

Business associations, corporations, labor unions and other organizations are spending more than ever to influence policy decisions at the federal level. In 2024, lobbying spending reached a record-breaking $4.4 billion, according to a new analysis by OpenSecrets. The $150 million increase in lobbying continues an upward trend that began in 2016.

Lobbying spending has increased by more than $1 billion over the past decade, totaling almost $37 billion since 2015. In each quarter of both 2023 and 2024, federal lobbying spending surpassed $1 billion.

Year-end 2024 lobbying data is now available on OpenSecrets. This comprehensive data includes detailed information on lobbying activities, expenditures, and the top firms, industries and issues involved, providing a vital resource for those interested in the intersection of money and politics.

You can explore the data at www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying. As always, OpenSecrets provides a clear, nonpartisan look at the lobbying landscape, helping reporters and researchers alike navigate this complex world of political influence.

By David Meyers

Ellen Weintraub, chair of the Federal Election Commission, revealed Feb. 6 that President Donald Trump sent her a letter informing her that she has been removed from the commission, effective immediately.

But Weintraub, who has been a commissioner since 2002 and was elected chair in December 2025, is refusing to leave.

“There’s a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn’t it,” Weintraub wrote on X.

The FEC is tasked with collecting and sharing federal campaign data as well as enforcing federal campaign finance laws. Because it is by design evenly divided between three Democratic and three Republican commissioners, partisan gridlock often prevents the agency from doing much beyond collecting required disclosures and making them available to the public.

Both parties have contributed to dysfunction at the FEC, where bipartisanship is required to take any action. When fully functional, the FEC investigates campaign finance violations such as excessive contributions, misreporting of campaign activities, and prohibited contributions from unions, corporations or foreign individuals and entities.  

According to federal law, the process to replace a commissioner requires presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. Only after a successor is approved would Weintraub be compelled to leave. But Weintraub has already been removed from sections of the FEC website that identify members of the commission.

Trevor Potter, a former FEC chairman who now leads the Campaign Legal Center, said Trump’s action “violates the law, the separation of powers, and generations of Supreme Court precedent.”

As Potter noted in his statement, there is a path for Trump to change the composition of the commission.

“With multiple FEC commissioners serving on expired terms and one vacant seat, Trump is free to nominate multiple new commissioners and to allow Congress to perform its constitutional role of advice and consent,” he said. “It’s contrary to law that he has instead opted to claim to ‘fire’ a single Democratic commissioner who has been an outspoken critic of the president’s lawbreaking and of the FEC’s failure to hold him accountable.”

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Bondi Diminishes Justice Department White Collar Enforcement (Bloomberg)

These States Won’t Let Utilities Charge Customers for Their Lobbying and Marketing (Mother Jones)

Trump's penny purge sends one corner of zinc lobby reeling (Axios)

Donald Trump Keeps Up His Fundraising Under a Reorganized PAC (The Dispatch)

2024’s Top Lobbying Risers (Sludge)

Companies, trade associations, and other groups spent more money on federal lobbying last year than ever before, according to data from OpenSecrets. Taking inflation into account, the total of $4.4 billion spent on lobbying last year was the most since 2012.

‘Team Pepsi’: Rumors of Coca-Cola calling ICE on their workers ignites Latino boycott (Daily Dot)

According to OpenSecrets, a database that tracks corporate political donations, Coca-Cola donated $14,717 to Trump and $50,000 to Make America Great Again Inc. in 2024, plus $51,463 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. In the same year, it gave $87,246 to former Vice President Kamala Harris. According to the data, they’ve been greasing both blue and red wheels pretty equally since 1990.

NRSC Chair Tim Scott Predicts Record-Breaking Spending in 2026 Senate Races (Campaigns & Elections)

If Scott’s predictions end up coming to fruition, the 2026 Senate elections will be the most expensive midterm cycle yet, with more than one race shattering the spending record currently held by the 2020 contest in Georgia between Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and Republican former Sen. David Perdue. That race ultimately cost more than $500 million, according to the campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets.

How Many Trump Officials Have Taken Money From Qatar? (The Intercept)

Qatar is a heavy-hitter on the think tank circuit, spending $9.1 million since 2019. The Persian Gulf monarchy has also deployed huge sums on lobbying the U.S. government, outstripping even such groups as the National Rifle Association by spending more than $72 million between 2015 and 2022, according to a separate analysis by OpenSecrets.