News about lobbying

Crypto lobbying groups have spent about $176 million on more than 100 congressional races ahead of the U.S. midterms, according to a Reuters review, though past election spending has not always produced the laws the industry wanted. The Senate failed on Sept. 15 to advance the Clarity Act, which got only 49 of the 60 votes needed, mainly over ethics rules for officials profiting from crypto. Fairshake, the industry's largest super PAC, spent $150.8 million through Oct. 20, and 53 of its 58 backed candidates in primaries and special elections won. The article notes Bitcoin rose 155% in 2023, a year the SEC brought 46 enforcement actions against crypto actors, suggesting markets can grow without friendly regulation. It argues fears of a crypto ban or burdensome rules are usually overblown.

According to Axios, Meta is assembling a bipartisan team of Washington veterans to deepen its ties with Democrats while maintaining its standing with Republicans. The team is being built ahead of the midterms.

The article argues that Congress has lost much of its in-house expertise, so regulated industries increasingly draft the rules. For example, 70 of 85 lines in a 2013 House bill letting big banks keep risky swaps inside federally insured units reflected Citigroup's recommendations, and the bill became law in December 2014. Professional committee staff fell from nearly 2,150 in 1993 to 1,316 in 2011, and the Office of Technology Assessment was defunded in 1995. The average congressional staffer stays about 3.1 years on Capitol Hill, and 388 aides left Congress to become lobbyists in 2011 alone. After the 2024 Loper Bright ruling, judges decide the meaning of unclear laws themselves, so Congress must write more specific statutes; the article urges restoring a science and technology assessment office, which a 2023 Senate bill sought to revive, and rebuilding committee expert staff, at a cost of under $10 per $1 million of federal spending in fiscal 2025 after inflation adjustment.