AI companies spend record sums on Washington lobbying

Post by smallmancontrov » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 6:58 PM UTC

programmertote wrote: post #88

jonas21 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the groups that spend the most on lobbying are composed of "normal" people who have banded together for some common interest. For example: - The AARP ($21M annual spend) has 38M members - The National Association of Realtors ($54M annual spend) has 1.5M members - The American Medical Association ($24M annual spend) has 300K members Of course that doesn't mean that their interests necessarily align with your i…

It really irks me for some reason that American Medical Association (one of the top spenders in lobbying) is doing the lobbying. I did a quick Gemini/Google search and these are the topics they lobby for. ``` Core Legislative PrioritiesMedicare Reform: Fighting to fix stagnant physician payment formulas and account for inflation. Prior Authorization: Pushing to reduce administrative roadblocks and delays enforced by…

Post by testing22321 » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 7:07 PM UTC

andrewla wrote: post #89

throwaw12 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lobbying expenditures are given to lobbyists not politicians. You're primarily paying for the salary of some humanities or social science majors and their travel expenses, which isn't that much money. I don't think these are the only expenses, why should politician listen to them if lobbyists are not promising them support in next elections in the form of marketing, payments for expenses and so on

> why should politician listen to them if lobbyists are not promising them support in next elections in the form of marketing, payments for expenses and so on Mostly because those things are directly illegal. Lobbying organizations (and PACs and SuperPACs etc.) are very limited in what they can provide either as direct monetary contributions or in-kind gifts to a candidate. The restrictions here are basically the sam…

Post by mithr » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 7:28 PM UTC

TheTaytay wrote: post #104

Lots of pitchforks in these comments. If you had read that the EFF was meeting with lawmakers in the US to convince them that there was no secure way to allow the government to break e2e encryption, or had read that academics were banding together to ask the government not to make open weight LLMs illegal, what would your reaction be? What if told you that those organizations had actually paid a consultant to help th…

Post by balarjin » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 7:32 PM UTC

throwaw12 wrote: post #117

Aunche wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not as if being elected is the end all and be all to being a politician. Politicians have a vague idea of how they want to shape society, but they can't be experts in completely unrelated subjects of healthcare, military, AI infrastructure etc. A good lobbyist will help a politician achieve these goals in the field of their expertise (or at least try to convince the politician that they're helping).

Why lobbyist can't just present their ideas publicly, like do a public free lessons to politicians and anyone who wants to attend, if they're so eager to teach politicians? Let them publicly say whatever they're preaching to politicians, and instead of 'funding' politicians directly, let them just teach everyone all at once. I would love to hear what AIPAC teaches politicians

  1. The vegan argument:  It is wrong to eat animals or make them suffer.

  2. The environmental case: Humans should leave nature alone.

  3. The public safety case: Some rivers have toxins that may accumulate in fish.  Only a strict licensing system can keep people from fishing in polluted rivers, selling the fish to people who don't know the river had bad stuff in it, and getting sick.

  >

Post by throwaw12 » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 7:40 PM UTC

anthuswilliams wrote: post #124

throwaw12 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why lobbyist can't just present their ideas publicly, like do a public free lessons to politicians and anyone who wants to attend, if they're so eager to teach politicians? Let them publicly say whatever they're preaching to politicians, and instead of 'funding' politicians directly, let them just teach everyone all at once. I would love to hear what AIPAC teaches politicians

That's literally what 90% of lobbying is. Powerpoint presentations to Congressional staffers, econometrics research publications, policy panels and conferences, and so on. Not everything is campaign donations and super PACs.