Foreign Companies Pay to Influence U.S. Policy ($620m)

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http://www.publicintegrity.org./lobby/printer-friendly.aspx?aid=689


Foreign Companies Pay to Influence U.S. Policy
More than $620 million spent lobbying federal government

By Julia DiLaura

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2005 — The army of lobbyists working behind the scenes to affect federal legislation and agency regulations now count some 650 foreign companies among their clients, which are seeking to influence everything from America's defense contracting and pharmaceutical policies to the sort of environmental matters that literally affect U.S. soil, according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity.

For example, from 1998 to mid-2004, London-based BP plc spent $33 million lobbying the U.S. government—the third-highest amount among foreign entities. Surprisingly, this international energy giant lobbied nearly as much on matters related to the environment and Superfund as it did on oil and gas issues. One likely explanation: BP and its U.S. affiliates are listed as the potentially responsible parties for 162 Superfund pollution sites that, collectively, have cost the Environmental Protection Agency $1.1 billion in analysis and clean-up costs. All told, records reveal, 22 foreign companies listed as potentially responsible parties for 275 Superfund sites in 40 U.S. states reported lobbying on the same issue or directly to the EPA.

During these same six-plus years, the Center analysis shows, companies with headquarters in 78 foreign nations spent more than $620 million lobbying the federal government. Over that time, those companies employed 550 lobbying firms and teams of 3,800 lobbyists, more than 100 of whom were former members of Congress. Companies based in the United Kingdom alone spent more than their counterparts in 37 U.S. states during that time period. .....


..............Not surprisingly, those familiar lobbyists tread the same well-worn corridors of power. Just as in the lobbying industry at large, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives were by far the most lobbied by foreign companies, followed by the Departments of State, Commerce, Treasury and Defense, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Nor should the result of that access be surprising. Sixteen foreign companies that paid Washington-based representatives to lobby the Department of Defense between 1998 and mid-2004 received more than $16.4 billion in Pentagon contracts during that time, $5.6 billion of which was awarded without competition..