SANTA MONICA, Calif.,
Oct. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- AT&T and Google third-quarter lobbying expenditures
this year both topped $4 million with
the telecommunications conglomerate barely edging out the Internet
giant for having spent the most money in the period to influence
federal policymakers, Consumer Watchdog said today.
AT&T barely kept the lead as its 2017 third quarter expenses
increased to $4.43 million from
$4.11 million, an 8 percent increase
from the third quarter of 2016, according to lobbying disclosure
reports filed Friday with the Clerk of the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Google increased its 2017 third-quarter federal lobbying
spending 9 percent to $4.17million
from $3.81 million in the comparable
2016 period, but remained in second place in lobbying expenditures
among 16 technology and communications companies tracked by
Consumer Watchdog.
But in the second quarter Google outspent AT&T by nearly a
million dollars, spending $5.03
million to AT&T's $4.16
million, according to disclosure forms.
Lobbying disclosure reports filed last week with the Clerk of
the House of Representatives showed that in addition to Google and
AT&T, eight other companies tracked by the nonpartisan,
nonprofit public interest group increased their lobbying
spending.
View the lobbying disclosure forms here:
http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldsearch.aspx
Oracle spending soared. It increased its lobbying expenditures
by 90 percent to $3.82 million in
2017 from $2.01 million in 2016. In
2015 Oracle spent $2.48 million in
the third quarter, the disclosure records showed.
Amazon spending also skyrocketed. It increased its
lobbying spending 26 percent to $3.41
million in 2017 from $2.71
million in 2016. It spent $2.02
million in the third quarter of 2015. Amazon has nearly
tripled its third quarter lobbying outlays since 2014 when it spent
$1.18 million.
"Half of the 16 tech and communication companies tracked by
Consumer Watchdog spent more than $2
million on lobbying in the third quarter once again
demonstrating how our democracy has been hijacked by corporate
interests," said John M. Simpson,
Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project director. "Trump said he wanted
to drain the swamp; but Washington
is still all about the money."
Facebook spent $2.85 million in
the third quarter of 2017, a 30 percent increase from $2.20 million in the third quarter of 2016. The
social networking company spent $2.59
million in 2015.
Microsoft, which used to lead the tech lobbying industry
expenditures, dropped below the $2
million level in the third quarter of 2017. It spent
$1.95 million, a decrease of 12
percent from $2.22 million in 2016.
That compares with $1.89 million in
the third quarter of 2015.
Here are the 2017 third-quarter lobbying amounts for the five
other tech firms tracked by Consumer Watchdog:
-- Apple spent $1.86 million, a 74
percent increase from $1.07 million,
in 2016.
-- Cisco Systems spent $620,000 a
decrease of 3 percent from $640,000
in 2016.
-- IBM spent $770,000, a decrease of
8 percent from $870,000, in 2016.
-- Intel spent $890,000, an increase
of 2 percent from $870,925 in
2016.
-- Twitter spent $120,000, a decrease
of 29 percent from $170,000 in
2016
Here are 2016 third-quarter lobbying expenditures for three
other telecommunications companies:
-- Sprint spent $571,221, a 1
percent decrease from $574,424 in
2016.
-- T-Mobile spent $2.35 million an
increase of 8 percent from $2.17
million, in 2016.
-- Verizon spent $2.2 million an
increase of 1 percent from $2.18
million in 2016. Consumer Watchdog used to track Yahoo's
lobbing spending, which was $600,000
in the third quarter of 2016. It has been bought by Verizon
and no longer files a separate report.
Here are 2016 third-quarter lobbying expenditures for two cable
companies:
-- Comcast spent $3.51 million, a
3 percent increase from $3.41 million
in 2016.
-- Charter Communications spent $1.88
million, a 6 percent decrease from $1.99 million in 2016.
Visit our website at www.consumerwatchdog.org.
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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog