CMCSA Comcast Corporation

By Brody Mullins and John D. McKinnon 

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump's victory has sparked one of the most pitched lobbying efforts in Washington in years as the prospect of business-friendly policies has companies from the airline industry to Wall Street launching new blitzes.

Oil and gas firms are pressing to roll back federal regulations on drilling. Verizon Communications Inc. and other large telecommunications firms want changes to the net neutrality rules championed by President Barack Obama's administration .

Airlines are seeking stronger enforcement of an aviation agreement in hopes of stopping foreign carriers from getting an unfair advantage on the most prized international routes. Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and other defense contractors are scrambling to protect against cuts in the Pentagon's budget.

"People are getting out the agendas that they have had for years, but never thought could happen," said Ed Kutler, a longtime Washington lobbyist. "Now, all of a sudden, people are firing with real bullets because things can be passed and go to a president who has his pen ready to sign."

Mr. Trump, a Republican, said on the campaign trail that he wants to "drain the swamp" in Washington and curb the influence of lobbyists and special interests. But his election has been a boon for Washington's influence sector as airlines, defense contractors, tech companies, retailers, manufacturers and others seek to advance their agendas.

Lawmakers are getting "a lot of contact and a lot of outreach" from hopeful businesses seeking regulatory relief and other changes, said Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.), a senior House member.

Business-focused initiatives in Congress this year are likely to include repeal and replacement of Mr. Obama's signature health-care law, a sweeping tax-code rewrite and repeal of a range of environment and energy rules.

Lobbyists for Wall Street already are pressing Congress to rescind a range of Dodd-Frank financial regulations that they say are too onerous.

McDonald's Corp., Choice Hotels International Inc. and other restaurant, hotel and retail companies are pushing to overturn a decision by Mr. Obama's administration to make it easier for unions to organize employees at franchises like McDonald's.

Led by a Washington trade group, the International Franchise Association, the industry is seeking legislation to overturn permanently the 2015 decision by the National Labor Relations Board. That effort stood little chance of overcoming the opposition of national labor unions and a Democratic president, but gained new life with Mr. Trump's win.

"It's a whole new opportunity to go on offense in a way that we had not expected," said Matthew Haller, a senior vice president at the trade group.

The franchisees got another boost when Mr. Trump nominated Andrew Puzder as Labor secretary. Mr. Puzder served on the International Franchise Association's board and resigned his seat last week.

Mr. Trump isn't the first president to come to Washington with a pledge to rein in the influence-peddling industry. Mr. Obama, a Democrat, made a similar promise when he took office eight years ago.

Companies, labor unions and interest groups spent a total of $3.2 billion on lobbying in 2015, the last year for which complete figures are available, down slightly from $3.3 billion in 2008, the year before Mr. Obama took office, according to lobbying data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. However, the decline likely had more to do with lobbyists reducing the activity they reported on disclosure forms, rather than a real decline in lobbying activity.

Companies must disclose new lobbying hires, but due to a time lag in the disclosure rules, it is too soon to determine the precise number of lobbyists who have been hired since Mr. Trump's election.

To be sure, Washington's lobbying industry gets a boost every time there is a shift in power, as companies and industries build lobbying teams to deal with the uncertainty of a new administration and defend their issues.

Many industries said Mr. Trump's statements on the campaign trail should translate into new momentum for their causes. U.S. airlines said Mr. Trump's concerns about inequitable trade policies means his administration should enforce an aviation agreement to prevent foreign carriers, such as Qatar Airways of Qatar and Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, from getting an unfair advantage on some lucrative international routes.

American Airlines Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. say the Gulf carriers are violating the agreement, known as Open Skies, by using government subsidies to fly newer planes at cheaper prices.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said last month that the agreement should be the first test of Mr. Trump's promise to use trade policy to protect U.S. jobs. "We should be the poster child in terms of the opportunity for this administration to enforce trade agreements," he said. "We're very encouraged by our new president's platform to enforce American trade agreements and to bring back American jobs," Mr. Bastian said.

Defense contractors, Detroit auto makers and some manufacturing firms are building lobbying campaigns to protect themselves from possible unwanted changes from the new administration. Defense contractors have come under attack from Mr. Trump, who has frequently criticized expensive government contracts with Boeing and Lockheed Martin involving both Air Force One and the Pentagon's newest jet fighter.

"The defense industry began the Trump transition expecting a sizable increase in defense spending, however some of his appointments and tweets have left the industry confused and a bit worried," said Loren Thompson, a defense-industry consultant in Washington.

Oil and gas firms, for example, are preparing a broad effort to roll back regulations they said make it hard to drill for oil and gas and build new pipelines. They hope to wrest control of the issue from environmental groups, who had successfully blocked key projects, such as the Keystone Pipeline, during Mr. Obama's term.

Verizon and other major U.S. telecommunications firms want to roll back net-neutrality regulations put in place by the Obama administration. The Obama administration was much more closely aligned with Google, Netflix Inc. and other internet firms that favored the rules, which require internet service providers such as Verizon to treat all web traffic equally.

"We're going to see spending like we've never seen before" on overhauling net neutrality and related telecommunications rules, said Michael Copps, a Democratic former member of the Federal Communications Commission who now advises Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

Write to Brody Mullins at brody.mullins@wsj.com and John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 10, 2017 20:11 ET (01:11 GMT)

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