The Influence of Interest Groups and Lobbyists on Legislation in The United States

The American government is arguably more unpopular with its citizens than ever before. Gallup Polls reveal data record low 36% (Gallup.Inc Presidential) approval rating for President Trump and a 20% approval rating for Congress (Gallup.Inc Congress). A large part of this could be attributed to the fact that the government is perceived to be working more so in the interests of lobbyists than the interests of American citizens. Lobbies are advocacy groups that persuade or “lobby” politicians to influence laws. The right to lobby is protected by the First Amendment which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” While theoretically, anyone can lobby a politician and all American citizens have the right to lobby their representatives, lobbies representing the interests of corporations are capable of donating millions to the election campaigns of politicians. Lobbies representing pharmaceutical companies and gun companies have been accused of hindering reform that would alleviate the current opioid epidemic and mass shooting crisis in the United States. Americans are increasingly pointing their fingers at lobbyists, and this begs the question of whether or not corporate lobbyists should have a role in US politics considering the detriment to public well-being. 

The 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution thoroughly details the inalienable rights of citizens, and especially focuses on the proportionate distribution of voting power based on the population of states. Considering that America is a representative democracy the legislation is designed in a way where the population is 1 proportionally represented. Section 2 of the 14th Amendment states that “representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State…” (U.S. Const. Amend.XIV). This concept of being fairly represented makes one wonder whether or not corporations follow the same rules. Do lobbyists, and the interest groups they represent have a disproportionate amount of influence over legislation? Some politicians suggest that some forms of lobbying should be stopped, some petition for strict regulation with proposing American Anti-Corruption act, while others suggest that a corporatocracy has completely replaced American democracy. 

In his academic paper “​A Law and Economics Analysis of Lobbying​ Dusko Krsmanovic states that “a lobbyist is a natural person who spends more than 20% of his/her working hours on lobbying, and who has received at least $5,000 as compensation from a client. In the case of a lobbying firm (instead of a natural person) the threshold was $20,000 semi/annually.” These restrictions are much more lax for Political Action Committees or PACs and Super Pacs which are organizations that can donate immense amounts of money.​ ​Regarding pure spending, alone lobbyists have a greater ability to finance campaigns than a single individual. In a speech to the Illinois Senate in 2016, then President Barack Obama advocated for campaign reform so that people were better represented as he felt that reform would make “politics better” which expanded on his 2008 campaign ideals where he stated that “I intend to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over, that they had not funded my campaigns, and from my first day as president, I will launch the most sweeping ethics reform in U.S. history. We will make government more open, more accountable and more responsive to the problems of the American people.” In a Democratic Party debate in early 2016, 2 Senator Bernie Sanders went into length about how Super Pacs had led to a “... campaign finance that is corrupt...”. This sentiment extends to right-wing politicians as well as the Presidential Candidate Donald Trump tweeted “All Presidential candidates should immediately disavow their Super PACs. They are not only breaking the spirit of the law but the law itself” in October of 2015. It should be noted that despite denouncing the current state of campaign finance President Obama, President Trump, Senator Sanders and others such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Lindsey Graham have all focused on Super PACs and not on lobbies as a whole. This could be since all of these politicians receive money from other types of lobbies. Those who are not politicians have much more extreme views regarding campaign finance reform. 

Certain groups advocate for a complete reform of campaign finance and setting heavy restrictions on a legislator’s ability to fundraise. Not-for-profit NGO Represent Us is a nationwide organization keen on spreading anti-corruption reform in America. Represent Us cites a Princeton Study that concludes that ​“The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.” ​Considering that it takes an estimated 1.1 million dollars for a congressional campaign and that congressional campaign spending totaled around 4 billion dollars in the 2016 midterms public funding is seen as a way to curb the inordinate power of lobbies and MSNBC reporter Aliyah Frumin attributes this heavy spending to “​the 2010 landmark the United States Supreme Court Case, Citizens United vs. The Federal Election Commission, in which the Court ruled that corporations could spend unlimited amounts of money to influence federal elections”​. The idea that corporations use lobbies to wield 3 immense amounts of influence is a sentiment shared by psychologist Bruce Levine wrote for the Huffington Post in 2011 that “the United States is neither a democracy nor a republic. A corporatocracy rules Americans: a partnership of too-big-to-fail corporations, the extremely wealthy elite, and corporate-collaborator government officials and that “...we the people have zero impact on policy”. 

The three key actors in this political situation are the politicians, corporations and the general populous. Corporations maintain their personhood while politicians advocate for reform of campaign finance specifically in regards to Super PACs. The general public is clamoring for reform so that they may be better represented and so that the democratic process is maintained. Due to the sheer difference in spending ability of a person versus a corporation, it is quite clear that a corporation's ability to lobby and thus influence legislation is far greater than an individual's. While many seem to agree on reform, there is no consensus on how severe the reform should be and whether or not corporations should still be allowed to make political donations but in a much more restricted manner or should be banned entirely from making such donations. 

The main question at hand was whether or not corporate lobbyists should have a role in US politics. It seems that politicians still want to lobby in some form while certain groups such as Represent Us call for a complete change of the campaign finance system. What is blatantly obvious, is that the current role lobbies have in US politics is a negative one and that the role must change through some legislation. Reform such as the American Anti-Corruption Act would significantly reduce the negative impact of lobbies and would allow for the representative democracy of the United States to function correctly. Super PACs are seen as too powerful, but normal PACs are not being denounced at the same level. The disproportionate political influence of lobbyists is directly tied to their superior ability to finance campaigns, and thus it is clear that campaign finance laws must be restructured, but it is unclear to what extent and how. 

Works Cited 

• Blumenthal, Paul. “Donald Trump Takes Aim At Rival's Super PAC Support.” ​The Huffington Post​, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Oct. 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-super-pac-2016_us_562e6694e4b00aa54a4a8544.
• Drutman, Lee. “Enough about Our ‘Corrupt Campaign Finance System’ Already. Let's Talk Equality.” ​Vox.com​, Vox Media, 5 Feb. 2016, www.vox.com/polyarchy/2016/2/5/10908722/hasen-plutocrats-united.
• Frumin, Aliyah. “How Much Does It Cost to Win a Seat in Congress? If You Have to Ask...” MSNBC​, NBCUniversal News Group, 13 Sept. 2013, www.msnbc.com/hardball/how-much-does-it-cost-win-seat-congre.
• Gallup, Inc. “Congress and the Public.” ​Gallup.com​, news.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx. 
• Gallup, Inc. “Presidential Approval Ratings -- Donald Trump.” ​Gallup.com​, news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx.
• Gilens, Martin, and Benjamin I. Page. “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens.” ​Scholar.Princeton.edu​, Princeton University, 2014, scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theo ries_of_american_politics.doc.pdf. 
• Hasen, Richard L., et al. “How Scalia's Death Could Shake Up Campaign Finance.” ​POLITICO​, POLITICO, 14 Feb. 2016, http://www.news.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx.
• Ingraham, Christopher. “Somebody Just Put a Price Tag on the 2016 Election. It's a Doozy.” ​The Washington Post​, WP Company, 14 Apr. 2017, http://www.news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx
• Krsmanovic, D. (2014, July). A Law and Economics Analysis of Lobbying Regulation: Towards an optimal structure through the Cost Indicator Index. Erasmus University Rotterdam 
• Levine, Bruce E. “The Myth of U.S. Democracy and the Reality of U.S. Corporatocracy.” ​The Huffington Post​, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 May 2011, www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-e-levine/the-myth-of-us-democracy-corporatocracy_b_83 6573.html. 
• “The Movement's Wins.” ​Represents​, www.represent.us/our-wins/.
• Overby, Peter. “Hillary Clinton Supports Amendment To Get Hidden Money Out Of Politics.” NPR​, NPR, 17 Apr. 2015, www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/04/17/400362239/hillary-clinton-supports-amend ment-to-get-hidden-money-out-of-politics. 
• “Remarks by the President in Address to the Illinois General Assembly.” ​National Archives and Records Administration​, National Archives and Records Administration, www.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/10/remarks-president-addre ss-illinois-general-assembly. 
• “We Can Criminalize Corruption by Passing This Law.” ​The American Anti-Corruption Act​, www.anticorruptionact.org/whats-in-the-act/.
• “Oyez.” ​Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company​, www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/118us394.