Today's lesson focus is on interest groups or lobby groups. By the end
of class you will know what they are, how they operated and be able to
identify the particulars of their influence.
Go to www.opensecrets.org
click on lobbying on the left hand side of the page.Read
click on ranked sectors. Read and look at all the different sectors. Click around.
click on top spenders. Read and look around.
post a one paragraph comment on the blog explaining one specific interest group and their influence/ interest on a particular bill.
Go to www.opensecrets.org
click on lobbying on the left hand side of the page.Read
click on ranked sectors. Read and look at all the different sectors. Click around.
click on top spenders. Read and look around.
post a one paragraph comment on the blog explaining one specific interest group and their influence/ interest on a particular bill.
The most interesting thing is, that most of the money they receive, is from oil, phone, and pharmacy company's.
ReplyDeleteGeneral motors spent $4,330,000 in 2012. They were a large contributor in the automotive industry. Also the construction sector was a large contributor to the republican campaign containing 88 Million dollars 63% went to the republicans. Since 1990 2/3 of 470 million went to the repulicans
ReplyDeleteIn the Wal-Mart stores, from years 1998 to 2007 they weren't getting as much money, but in the year off 2008 they got $6,590,000. and ever since then they've gotten more money. But in 2012 their money income dropped massively, to three million dollars. Wal-Marts income may either go up or down, depending on if the federal government is giving them attention or not.
ReplyDelete-Ayla Leary
The gun rights group mostly supports and donates money to republicans to keep the right to own guns. After the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in January 2011 brought the issue back into the spotlight. Soon after the shooting, lobbyists on both sides of the gun rights issue bagan mobilizing for proposed gun control legislation that dealt with issues ranging from high-capacity gun magazines to the right to carry firearms near members of Congress and the president.
ReplyDeleteNational Beer Wholesalers Assn spent $2,813,250 in 2011-2012. The industry tends to lobby congress on alcohol taxes and regulations. They fight to make sure they do not have regulations set on them which will hurt their business. In recent years though they focused on broader issues. In 2001, they lobbied a bill on estate tax which later was repealed.
ReplyDeleteI learned that Verizon along with 74 other companies lobbied a bill that says a customer should be notified if a different person tries to breach the security of their phone. Verizon also spends money on the "Do Not Track Me Online" bill making sure that Verizon customers are protected when searching the internet on their own phones. They have spent $15,690,000 in the past supporting these bills so their customers are protected when using their phones.
ReplyDeleteAndrea Friess
The tobacco industry is crashing. In 2002 the contributions during the election were $9.2 million, and 79% of it went to the republicans. In 2008,less than half was donated, only $4.2 million. Also, not only did the contributions crash, but the money got split more evenly,with only 55% of them going to the republicans. This could have been related to the Democrats taking the white house. Altria was one of the top lobbying groups for tobacco. Recently, it has moved to the American Lung Society and is trying to lobby the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to get passed into a law.
ReplyDeleteTo amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require the disclosure of information relating to the fair market value and safety of damaged motor vehicles.
ReplyDeleteToyota must not have wanted this bill to be passed in case one of their cars was damaged and then their expenses would be higher.
The oil industry has collectively spent 238.7 million dollars since the 1990 election cycle on politicians to support their off shore drilling. 75 percent of this has gone to republicans. In one case the top oil contributers wanted to drill in alaska wildlife refuges, but the resilient bush would not allow this. Some of the top contributers then moved on to support Barack Obama's campaign at an estimated 884,000 dollars. This was more then any other lawmaker except republican opponent John McCain.
ReplyDeleteverizon spent over 13,120,000 in 2009. This company pays so much money in commercials and inproving their service. They fight to make sure they do not have any unwanted regulations that hurt their business.
ReplyDeleteAT&T has spent over 100 million dollars in the past 14 years in lobbying. The money spent towards lobbying has decreased in the past couple years. The have 93 lobbyists. Telecommunications is one of the biggest issues for AT&T. They have had 45 reports. They supported wireless tax fairness act of 2011 and temporary payroll tax cut continutation act of 2011. This was basically tax protection for the small businesses.
ReplyDeleteAt&t lobbying activity may go up or down over time. Depending on how much attention the government gives to their issues. they spent over 10 million dollars on utilities.
ReplyDeletePfizer Inc. is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, and they produce many prescription drugs. In 2012, they spent over $6,000,000 on their lobbying efforts. They have spent money endorsing H.R. 452.H.R. 452 is responsible for repealing IPAB. By repealing IPAB, the limiting of medicare services and innovative treatments to seniors would be prevented.
ReplyDeleteGeneral electric spent $11,180,000 in 2012 on lobbying. It lobbies most on Manufacturing & Distributing, Defense and Aviation. They are currently lobbying the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2013. The bill is supporting the increase of the National Defense.
ReplyDeleteVerison communications spent $8,540,000 in 2012. Verison says that when people use their phone they are protected when they go on the internet. 89 out of 115 verison communications lobbiyists in 2012 have previously held government jobs. one of the bills were Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2012
ReplyDelete~jessica crispin
One thing i found interesting was how much Wal-Mart has contributed to lobbying for clean energy. They were one of the top lobbyists for the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. After some research, i found that one of Wal-Mart's "goals" is to run on 100% renewable energy. It is probably for some kind of tax credit.
ReplyDeleteAn obvious issue that the Blue Cross has dealt with over the last few years is the cost of health care. Millions have dollars have been put to work in order to push bills throughout the healthcare industry by the Blue Cross. Pushing for Health care acts in 2011 and 2012 have benefited Americans and allowed health care to be affordable for millions. As well as health care cost the Blue Cross also pushes toward the efficiency of the health care industry through improving hospitals and technology, which is in my opinion a noble and selfless gesture.
ReplyDeleteGoogle spent $9,790,000 total so far this year reaching a new maximum in their lobby spending. Google most likely used a large majority of these millions to control the outcome of the recent SOPA bill. SOPA had 15 major points to it and it was Google's top lobby effort in the past few years.
ReplyDeleteOne thing i found interesting was Verizon lobbied over $25,000 in 1998 and it dramatically dropped to $5,000 in 1999. Verizon lobbied $8,450,000 on telephone utilities, and $90,000 on services and equipment.
ReplyDeleteIn 2012, Boeing spent $8.1 million dollars in lobbying costs.$100K went towards miscellaneous defense and $8M was spent on lobbying for Defense Aerospace. This is obviously an intense example of lobbying for their own personal gain, as Defense Aerospace is an organization that believes in strong military and Boeing is a manufacturer of military aircraft, etc. Boeing puts a lot of money into their lobbying for this industry to protect their business interests.
ReplyDeleteBoeing CO spent nearly $164,139,310 dollars this year. A special interest's lobbying activity may go up or down over time depending on how much attention the federal government is giving their issues. Active clients often retain multiple lobbying firms, each with a team of lobbyists, to press their case for them. The total lobbying expenditures for the Boeing CO is roughly $8,190,000 dollars this year.
ReplyDeleteAT&T has spent most of there money of there 100 million dollars in lobbying. AT&T has spent most a total of 10,540,000 on telephone utilities. That is a lot for a phone company. AT&T did spend the most in '99 and '06 of there money. For there telephone utilities they have 37 clients. They also have a total of 295 lobbyists in there firm. Lastly AT&T has spent $0 dollars in Summit Telephone CO.
ReplyDeleteVerison influences by lobbying, the America invents act. This act could hold value to Verison because the bill is about invention patents and the exclusions of bad patents and challenging the make of patents. Verison obviously wants some form of change or maintnance on the bill to keep thier ability to invent things first from other companies.
ReplyDeleteAT&T spent over 145 million dollars in lobbying. On utilities alone, AT&T spent close to 11 million. They also have a total of 84 lobbyists. Since the year 2007, AT&T spending rate has gone down from the previous years. Depending on how much attention the government gives AT&T's issues, their lobbying activity may go up or down. They supported the wireless tax fairness act, while also supporting the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2011
ReplyDeleteLockheed Martin spends the majority of its lobbying budget on bills dealing with national defense and homeland security. This is because these bills most likely affect Lockheed Martin's government contracts for building certain air crafts. Obviously they want the government to continue giving them more money to make more air craft for the military. They also may appose some of the bills because they give more money to Lockheed Martin's competition such as Boeing and Sikorsky.
DeleteI learned that Verizon has spent millions on protecting their customers on bills. One is that so they cannot be traced when they are on there internet phone. They also have a bill for children as well. Also one of there bills were SAFE Data Act of 2011. Veirzon has also spent millions in commercials.
ReplyDeleteIn 2008, the education industry spent about $110 million and 23 of that million was donated to President Barack Obama's political campaign. Also 82 % of 57.4 million dollars was given to the democratic party in 2008... some of the main contributors of these funds include the University of California, Harvard University, Columbia University, and Stanford University just to name a few. Thus, the point being that lobbying by the education industry is often done directly to the federal government to make an attempt in getting proper legislation.
ReplyDeleteWalt Disney Co. spent a total of $2,340,000 between Disney world wide services and just Disney. They were for A bill to amend criminal penalty provision infringement of a copyright, and for other purposes. They would support this because they do not want anyone to copyright or steal any other their movies, tv and radio shows.
ReplyDeleteTotal contributions made by Exxon Mobile was $2,727,434.00, ranking 56 of 19,345. They contributed $1,297,654.00 to PACs, parties, and outside spending groups, and they spent $1,429,780 towards candidates. It was said that, "The total of contributions to candidates from Exxon Mobil PACs is 4 times larger than contributions from individuals", also, 20 out of 34 exxon mobilists have had a government job.
ReplyDeleteEducation is one of the top spending industries. The industry recently, in 2008, donated 57.4 million with 82% of that money going to the Democratic candidates and committees. That 82% has been rapidly increasing over the years. The University of California, one of the top contributes, gave more then 2.8 million at the federal level. Along with Harvard University, Stanford University, Columbia University and University of Chicago.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I found interesting was that Facebook has spent $1,350,000 in the year 2011 on lobbying. One bill that they are lobbying is the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2011. This bill pretty much protects Facebook from putting people person stuff about themselves or their business online.
ReplyDeleteMotion Pictures Association influences lobbying the Farm Bill. For some reason they are very interested in this bill that could cause them to either help or destroy this bill; before it can become a law that will help them gain money or lose it.
ReplyDeleteWalt Disney Co. supported a bill to amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for other purposes. This is important to Disney because they would want to protect their movies from being stolen by others and they want to be sure to limit the amount of violence in their productions. Walt Disney Co. spent $2,340,000 in 2012. -Alexis Hetherington
ReplyDeleteComcast spent almost $8.6 million dollars this year on lobbying. Some of their issues included SOPA and PIPA and net neutrality. They also lobbied in tax-related things, like depreciation and streamlined sales tax. And lastly, telecommunication related things like multi-channel competition and program access.
ReplyDeleteThe Gay Lesbian and Straight and Straight Education Network lobby for rights dealing with sexuality in schools. The are categorized as human rights in educations. They spent $110,000 dollars. Their one bill, H.R.1648: Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2011 lobbied to address the problem of bullying and harassment of students in public elementary schools and secondary schools. They have lobbied for 6 other bills.
ReplyDelete+ Sam Geiger <3
Walt Disney took an interest in S.2008: Next Generation Television Marketplace Act of 2011. The company has many TV channels so they had to take a look at a bill having to do with TV. Disney channel is a widely watched TV channel so they would not want anything to get in the way of airing their channel in every pet of the country and even in other countries.
ReplyDeleteIn 2011, Facebook industry spent 1350000 dollars on lobbing. They proposed a bill to keep peoples Personal information Private. This bill gave people the protection online to share information knowing that their space stays private and protected.
ReplyDeleteWalt Disney Co. spent $2,340,000 in 2012. they supported a bill to amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright. i think this is so important because they want to protect there movies and limit the amount of violence in them as well.
ReplyDelete