"No Lobbyists Beyond This Point" sign at the Maryland State House, 2014

 

Topics on the Page

 

Lobbying in American Politics

 

Interest Groups

• Freedmen's Bureau: A precursor to political interest groups
• Case Study:  The National Rifle Association (NRA)

 

Labor Unions

 

Political Action Committees

• Super PACs

 

• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision (2010)

 

• Calls for a 28th Amendment to Overturn Citizens United  

 

 CROSS-LINK: Special Topic Page on Money in American Politics

 

 eBook Connection: Public and Private Interest Groups, PACs and Labor Unions

 

 

 

Lobbying in American Politics

 

Actions that seek to influence the defeat or passage of legislation are called "lobbying."  SOURCE

 

 

  This is a video describing what lobbying is and how it works

 

 

Lobbying Database, OpenSecrets.org

 

• In 2018, total lobbying spending:  $3.49 billion/11,651 registered lobbyists
• In 2019, total lobbying spending: $3.5 billion/11,890 registered lobbyists 

 

 

The 10 Largest Lobbyist Groups in the US (2023)

 

• The largest lobbyist group in the U.S. is the National Association of Realtors, who spent over $84 billion on lobbying in 2022.

 

 

Why Lobbying is Legal and Important in the U.S., Investopedia (May 18, 2019)

 

 

How States Define Lobbying and Lobbyist, National Conference of State Legislatures

 

 

Statistical summary of election campaigns, from the Federal Election Commission (FEC)

 

 

Foreign Agents Registration Act (1938)

• Requires disclosure of lobbying on behalf of foreign governments or entities

 

Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995

 

This is a database of official documents used by lobbyists in the US. 

https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc821145/ 

 

Here is information about the top LGBTQ+ interest groups contributions of 2019-2020 from Open Secrets  

 

 Click here for a Crash Course video on Interest Groups, and here for another Crash Course video on the formation of Interest Groups.

 

 

 

 

 

Interest Groups

 

Terry O'Neill, National Organization of Women (NOW)

 

 

• Also called "special interest groups" or "pressure groups"

 

• Generally formal groups

 

• Formed over shared beliefs on issues

 

• Attempt to influence public policy or benefit themselves

 

• Often a source of political donations 

 

• Use "lobbying" as a means of reaching their goals
• Use pressure or other means to convince policy makers to pass legislation benefiting them or their cause 

 

• There are a variety of interest groups:
• Economic
• Aim to improve the economy 
• Include:
• Labor groups
• Professional groups
• Business groups
• Farm groups 
• Cause
• Aim to benefit a particular value
• Include:
• Veterans' groups
• Religious organizations
• Disability support

 

Click here for a list of Special National Interest Groups from Project VoteSmart. Searchable by state and issue.

 

 Learning Plans

 

• Click here for a lesson plan on interest groups from iCivics

 

• Click here for a lesson plan on interest groups and the media

 

• Click here for a lesson plan on interest groups from CongressLink

 

 

 

Freedmen's Bureau: A precursor to interest groups

 

Freedmens Bureau Office, 1866

• The Freedmen's Bureau was established at the end of the American Civil War in 1865

 

• The Bureau worked on improving the conditions of freed African Americans and poor white southerners after the destruction of the Civil War

 

• They provided temporary food, clothing, and shelter to over 4 million people, consolidated the work of local African American organizations, and became the first social welfare agency

 

• They had limited time and their power was limited by the federal government

 

• They tried to revive agricultural productivity and emphasized a need for land redistribution after slavery was eliminated

 

• The Bureau was a government-created grassroots organization that established political activism for African Americans 

 

Read about how the Freedmen's Bureau Acts of 1865 and 1866 helped establish schools, create work contracts, and rebuild the south's economy after the Civil War.

 

 

 

 

 

Labor Unions

 

New York City Transit Strike Notice, 2005

Link to information on the History of labor unions and radical political parties

 

Women Workers and Unions, John Schmitt and Ncole Woo, Center for Economic and Policy Research (December, 2013).

 

• The report found that women who belong to labor unions earn 12.9% more ($2.50 an hour) than women who are not unionized.

 

• Women in unions are 36.8% more likely to have health insurance provided by employers; 54.3% more likely to have a retirement plan.

 

• Women accounted for 45.9% of total union membership in 2012; by 2023 the majority of American union workers will be women.
• Total union membership continues to decline for both men and women.

 

• Click here for an academic research article about how labor unions reduce economic inequalities.  

 

This is an article depicting why workers of color should join labor unions.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/news/2011/04/04/9402/the-importance-of-unions-for-workers-of-color/ 

 

The Right to Strike, National Labor Relations Board

 

 

The National Rifle Association (NRA)

 

• Co-founded in 1871 by Civil War General Ambrose Burnside

 

• Original goal to promote better marksmanship (Burnside said only one in 10 soldiers could "hit the broadside of a barn."

 

• Breakdown of the NRA's spending and fundraising over the past 3 decades  

 

• NRA has five million members in 2018

Institute for Legislative Action is the NRA's lobbying arm

Five Charts That Show How Powerful the NRA Is, Business Insider (February 20, 2018)

NRA Rewrites Fairy Tales with More Firearms, Less Bloodshed, NPR (March 25, 2016)


Political Action Committees (PACs)

Just 158 Families have Provided Nearly Half the Early Money for Efforts to Capture the White House, The New York Times, October 11, 2015

 

Image from Hawaii Public Radio

 

 

 

• PACs are widely used in elections in the House of Representatives and the US Senate

 

• The first PAC was formed in 1944
• The Congress of Industrial Organizations
• Formed to reelect President Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

• The Federal Election Campaign Act was enacted in 1971
• Restrict the donation amount a person, group, or corporation could give
• Intended to reduce the amount of influence money held on elections
• However, PAC simply began seeking smaller amounts from more people
• After the Act, the number of PACs increased
• About 600 PACs in early 1970s
• More than 4,000 by 2010

 

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold Act)

 

• Passed in 2002, it was the first major amendment to FECA (1971), purpose was to eliminate "soft money" to fund advertisements from political parties for a particular candidate, overall increased the amount of money both individuals and corporations can donate to a candidate, parts of this overturned in 2010 

 

• Traditionally, PACs were created by businesses or unions

 

• Today, there are many types of PACs
• Leadership PACs are established by politicians who are seeking higher office or are hoping to raise more money for their political party

  

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

 

• Supreme Court ruled that organizations that collect and donate funds to political candidates

 

• Can be formed by corporations, labor unions, trade unions, and various groups or people

 

• See here for an article on the effects of Citizens United v. FEC on its 9th anniversary.  

 

 

Constitutional Amendments to Overturn Citizens United 

 

 

Bipartisan Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United Introduced (January 4, 2019)

 

 

 

Super PACs

 

 This video describes what Super PACs are and how they work.

 

 

• Established in 2010 by the Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
• Known as Independent Expenditure-Only Committees
• No limit on the amount of money a person could give a PAC
• No limit on the amount of money a union or corporation could give a PAC

 

• Not permitted to coordinate activities with candidates or campaigns

 

• See here for information about "outside spending", money that comes from "dark money groups", which are politically active nonprofits that are NOT required to publicly reveal their donors.  

 

 

 

As of March 26, 2019, 2,395 groups organized as super PACs have reported total receipts of $1,567,304,432 and total independent expenditures of $808,703,796 in the 2018 cycle

 

As of April 22, 2020, 1,759 groups organized as super PACs have reported total receipts of $743,447,298 and total independent expenditures of $109,270,313 in the 2020 cycle, but it's not over yet!

 

• Link to SuperPACs from OpenSecrets. org
  

 

See here for an article from NBC about Super PACs in Joe Biden's 2020 election bid. 

 

 

The Era of the SuperPAC in American Politics, ThoughtCo. (January 25, 2019)

 

Click here for a list of Super PACs and their contributions. 

 

Click here for a FAQ on PACs from the Federal Election Commission.

Click here for a quiz on PACs and Super PACs from HowStuffWorks

• Click here for a video from NowThis about Super PACS

 

• Click here for comedian Stephen Colbert announcing his Super PAC

 

• Click here for "PACs: What Are They?" from Civics in a Minute

 

• Click here for CBS Evening News' story on Super PACs and Blurring Election Lines

 

• Click here for a video conversation from Vox about whether Super PACs should be legal?

Learning Plans

 

• Click here for a lesson plan on campaign spending and PACs from PBS.

 

• Click here for the lesson plan "Follow the Money" from the New York Times.

 

 Go here for a brief music video to teach kids about Super PACS.  

 

 

Quiz Question

 

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the role of Super PAC in American politics? 

 

A) A Super PAC has strict limitations on how much money it can take from corporations, unions, and individuals. 

 

B) Super PACs were mainly used in the early 1900s and not so much today. 

 

C) Super PACs can spend unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose political candidates through ad campaigns. 

 

D) Super PACs can give money directly to candidates and political parties. 

 

Answer C

Super PACs can spend unlimited amounts of money on ad campaigns. They can also take unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions, and individuals. Super PACs have been growing in popularity ever since the 2000s. Super PACs cannot directly give money to candidates or political parties. 

 

 

Sources:
1. Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/290136/interest-group
2. Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/467577/political-action-committee-PAC
3. ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/super-pac-short-history/story?id=16960267