Center For Responsive Politics:$3.47 Billion Spent Lobbying The Federal Government

According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics,$3.47 billion was spent(2009) lobbying the federal government with the pharmaceutical and health products industries ($266.8 million) leading the way and spreading the wealth.At one point during that year,PhRMA,the industry wide association, employed forty-eight lobbying firms with a total of 165 people,according to Sunlight Foundation's Paul Blumenthal.Sunlight also claims that as of late may 2010,members of the financial committees of both houses had already enjoyed 845 separate fund-raising events.Fourteen freshmen serving on the House Financial Services Committee raised 56% more by mid-2010 in campaign contributions than other freshmen.Members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee enjoyed an average of $52,000 in contributions from oil and gas industry in the 2008-2010 election cycle,compared with $24,000 for others in the Senate,according to the Center for Responsive Politics.(Alterman)

Politicians do not have to switch votes to meet the demands of this money. They can bury bills by rewriting the language of the bills,miss key votes(persuade others to do the same),confuse debate or bankroll primary opposition.The real outcome of most lobbying is the achievement of nothing.The corporations want to maintain to status quo, continue gridlock and stalemating of proposals.

Consider health care for a moment and see how lobbying worked its way to deflate the single-payer program,the negotiating of drug prices for seniors,antitrust regulations for the health insurance industry and lowering the cost of deliverable care.President Obama won by the skin of his teeth but lost all these battles along the way because the powerful lobbyist stopped him almost before he started.

According to the Center for Public Integrity, the number of lobbyists devoted to climate change had risen by more than 400% since 2003 to a total of 2,810.This is contrasted to the estimate 138 working on behalf of alternative forms of energy.Targets for improving renewable energy resources were roughly halved as Congress gutted the EPA's authority to regulate carbon emissions.Rather than auction off pollution permits,as candidate Obama had proposed,the legislation offered 83 percent of them to polluters for free.Polluters earned themselves $134 billion in taxpayer funded gifts as they reduced the overall goal of a reduction in carbon emissions from 20% to 17%.

More from"Kabuki Democracy" by Eric Alterman in the near future.