Corporations now spend more lobbying Congress than taxpayers spend funding Congress

[KamaAina]

http://www.vox.com/2015/4/20/8455235/congress-lobbying-money-statistic

Well, this isn't good:

Corporations now spend about $2.6 billion a year on reported lobbying expenditures – more than the $2 billion we spend to fund the House ($1.16 billion) and Senate ($820 million).

Those numbers come from political scientist Lee Drutman, author of the book The Business of America Is Lobbying, who notes, over email, that they've fallen slightly out of date. In 2014 the House's operating budget was $1.18 billion, and the Senate's operating budget was $860 million. That pays for, among other things, all congressional staff. Add in the funds for the Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Research Service — the two most important agencies meant to inform members of Congress about the issues corporate America is lobbying them on — and you've added another $150 million to the tab.

Which is to say, Drutman's point stands: businesses* are spending more money lobbying the House and Senate than taxpayers are spending running the House and Senate and informing its members. And that should scare you, for two reasons.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. In the old days, the bribes used to come in brown paper bags.

[Thinkingabout]

2. And we wonder why does Congress continue to operate this way.

All are guilty of jumping in with the lobbyists. If this money was to be used to fund our treasury then it would make sense to get rid of the taxes. We have to ask, who is recipient of these funds from lobbyists. We know who receives the funds and of course they do not want to halt this.

I have never understood why so much money is poured into getting a job which pays $400,000 a year for four years.