By Greg Hazley
Washington lobbying outlays were flat last year as the Great Recession took a toll on K Street, according to a report released today by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Center tracked $3.47B in lobbying in 2010, comparable to the record $3.49B spent in the previous year. It expects last year's numbers to edge up a bit after late filers are documented.
Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center, says though "special interests have finally hit the brakes in Washington’s high-stakes big-dollar influence game, it’s no surprise that they are as deeply entrenches as ever."
The Center notes that lobbying hit a feverish pitch in 2009 as the bulk of the work was done on key categories such as climate change, economic stimulus, student loans, financial regulations and healthcare reform.
The top lobbying spenders last year were U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($132.1M, -8.6%), PG&E Corp. ($45.5M, +623.9%), General Electric ($39.3M, +43.8%) FedEx ($25.6M, +53.3%) American Medical Assn. ($22.6M, +8.9%), AARP ($22.1M, +5.0), PhRMA ($21.7M, -16.9%), Blue Cross/Blue Shield ($21.0M, -11.2%) and ConocoPhillips ($19.6M, +8.6%).
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