Lobbyists and Special Interest Groups in Congress
In the United States Congress there are two houses called the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the House of Representatives most of the legislation is done through committees and subcommittees. This is where the influence of lobbyists and special interest groups come into play.
In the House, representatives often take a bill that is close to being passed and attach a rider which is an attachment to the bill. For example, legislation for healthcare might be close to getting passed when a Congressmen will attach a rider to the bill for funding for his home district. This further causes gridlock in Congress. The attachments and riders are also called pork. Legislation that is passed this way is also called pork barrel legislation.
When a bill is close to being passed, it must go through lobbyists who state if the bill is good for their own constituents. Bills that don’t have enough support of the lobbyists are often doomed to fail.
Key lobbyists and interest groups include: The Environmental Lobbyists, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Gun Lobby, Labor Lobby, Big Tobacco, Christian Coalition, Hollywood/ Movie Production Association of America, Legal Lobby, Pro-choice Movement, Retired Lobby and the Pharmaceutical Lobby. The Environmental Lobby is responsible for the environment is protected and that policy won’t hurt it through factories or dumpings into the ocean. Environmental Groups include Green Peace. Last year they gave around $2 million in Congress to support their cause. The NAACP is responsible for ensuring equal rights of all people, especially African Americans. The latest issues they are fighting for is to make sure that everyone is getting equal pay and treatment in the workforce.
The Pharmaceutical Lobby is one of the biggest lobby groups in Congress. Last year their financial clout sent $26 million to Congressmen so that they would vote for legislation favorable to their group. The Pharmaceutical Lobby deals with healthcare and medicaid issues both public and privately funded. The Gun Lobby is a relatively small group. The Gun Lobby is mainly made up of the NRA and last year they contributed $4 million to their cause. The Gun Lobby fights for gun permits to be legalized to a wider group of people. The ficiously fought the Brady Hand Gun Law passed under the Clinton Administration which limited the amount of people and places that people could be with hand guns.
The Labor Lobby is one of if not the biggest group. The have millions of members because the Labor Lobby includes the American Federation of Labor, the CIO and many other union groups across the nation. They donated $90 million to help fight for better treatment in the workforce, better pay and better working conditions. The other two major groups are the Legal Lobby and the Retired Lobby. The Legal Lobby donated $112 million and the major group includes the American Bar Association. The Legal Lobby represents the views of lawyers and legal rights in the court of law. They play an influential role in law making and getting malpractice laws passed which create more lawsuits in courts for people to earn money. The Retired Lobby is made up of the AARP and in the year 2000 they gave $102 million. The Retired Lobby focuses mainly on pensions and retirement plans and health care for the elderly.
Finally, other small groups include the Pro-Choice movement which fights for a woman’s right to choose whether they want to have an abortion. The Hollywood Lobby or Motion Pictures Association of America fights for actors and the screen actors guild group. Finally the Christian Coalition and Lobby fights for its religious cause.
