Government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations

More than $3.47 billion was spent lobbying the Federal government in 2009, often driven by political issues central to the age: health care reform, financial reform, energy policy. That’s more than a 5% increase over $3.3 billion worth of federal lobbying recorded in 2008, the previous all-time annual high for lobbying expenditures.

In the 4th quarter of 2009, lobbying expenditures increased nearly 16 percent over 4th quarter levels from 2008. Those 4th quarter expenditures marked the first quarter in U.S. history that federal lobbying expenditures cracked the $900 million mark, hitting a record $955.1 million for the quarter.

At nearly $266.8 million, the pharmaceutical and health products industry’s federal lobbying expenditures not only outpaced all other business industries and special interest areas in 2009, but stand as the greatest amount ever spent on lobbying efforts by a single industry for one year.

Photograph shows the D.C. lobbying and law firm Patton Boggs New York office at the Stevens Tower, at 1185 Avenue of the Americas.