US fossil fuel lobbyists also represent hundreds of cities fighting for climate damages

Dozens of lobbying firms were identified by researchers as working on both sides of climate action...

 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/25/fossil-fuel-lobbyists-fight-climate-damage

 

K Street girds for Democrats’ oil oversight onslaught - POLITICO

K Street lobbyists are bracing for an onslaught of oversight investigations if Democrats capture one or both chambers of Congress in November. And the party winning back committee gavels — and the subpoena power that comes with them — will make the Trump administration’s dealings with the oil and gas industry a top target. 

Democrats are honing their affordability message with the 2028 presidential election looming. Any links they can uncover, real or perceived, between the Trump administration’s policies and rising electricity and gas prices could be fodder for that message, according to lobbyists who are already beginning to prepare clients for their turn under the spotlight…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/23/k-street-girds-for-democrats-oil-oversight-onslaught-01006936

 

The Save our Bacon Act is a Trojan Hog

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/e5L-MjUa4ss

Trump upended health care. Lobbyists are raking it in. - POLITICO

New disclosures show health industry firms and trade groups are spending more than ever to influence Washington...

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/22/lobbying-health-care-trump-rfk-00886828

Congress is about to overhaul the drug market. Consumers may never feel it. - POLITICO

Since 2023, PCMA has spent $47 million lobbying against changes to its business practices, about twice its spending from the prior three-year period. The group has assembled an army of Republican lobbyists, hiring Trump-linked lobbying shop Continental Strategy, as well as former Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Penn.) and Noe Garcia, managing partner at Forward Global and a former senior policy adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn)...

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/02/prescription-drug-costs-pharmacy-benefit-managers-00761503 

 

How thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists got access to UN climate talks – and then kept drilling

"This information clearly exposes corporate capture of the global climate process … the space that should be about science and the people has been transformed into a large carbon business hall," said Adilson Vieira, spokesperson for the Amazonian Work Group. "While forest communities fight for survival, the same companies that cause climate collapse buy credentials and political influence to continue expanding their fossil empires." 

"Not only are Indigenous peoples on the frontlines of their extractive sites suffering human rights violations, but we also face the brunt of climate chaos on our lands with worsening floods, wildfires, and extreme heat waves. We need to take down the 'for sale' sign on Mother Earth and bar entry to Cop for oil and gas lobbyists," said Brenna Yellowthunder, lead coordinator for the Indigenous Environmental Network, a member of KBPO...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/07/fossil-fuel-lobbyists-cop-un-climate

 

‘Total infiltration’: How plastics industry swamped vital global treaty talks

…a flood of industry lobbyists and organisations have joined the talks, far outnumbering national delegations and scientists. They assist a group of petrostates, led by Saudi Arabia, in blocking the progress that many nations want, and are part of a wider "petrochemical bloc" that a recent study says "is driving up plastics production, externalising the costs of pollution, distorting scientific knowledge, and lobbying to derail negotiations"…

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/23/total-infiltration-how-plastics-industry-swamped-vital-global-treaty-talks

 

Ro Khanna takes on lobbyist power with anti-corruption ‘Drain the Swamp Act’

The "Drain the Swamp Act" – shared exclusively with the Guardian and deliberately invoking Trump's own 2016 campaign slogan – would convert into permanent law the ethics requirements previously established by executive order, including bans on lobbyist gifts and "revolving door" restrictions. 

"He campaigned on draining the swamp, and yet he gets in there and he says, no, lobbyists can give gifts to White House officials," Khanna said. "What I'm saying is that we need to ban lobbyists from giving gifts to White House officials, not just this administration, but for all administrations going forward."…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/10/ro-khanna-trump-drain-the-swamp-act

 

Trump’s proposed EPA leadership stacked with lobbyists and attorneys

Donald Trump is stacking his proposed Environmental Protection Agency leadership with former industry lobbyists, executives, and attorneys who have spent their careers attacking protections covering everything from water quality to greenhouse gas emissions to toxic chemicals…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/05/trump-epa-lobbyists-attorneys

 

Iconic Gun-Makers Gave Sensitive Customer Information to Political Operatives — ProPublica

At least 10 gun industry businesses, including Glock, Smith & Wesson, Remington, Marlin and Mossberg, handed over names, addresses and other private data to the gun industry's chief lobbying group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The NSSF then entered the gun owners' details into what would become a massive database...

https://www.propublica.org/article/gunmakers-owners-sensitive-personal-information-glock-remington-nssf

Foreign Agents' explores the U.S. citizens lobbying for foreign governments (Dave Davies; Fresh Air podcast)

Author Casey Michel says you might be surprised by who is advocating for foreign interests: lobbyists, law firms, and publicists as well as charitable foundations, major universities and think tanks. 

"...So he [Manafort] had a firm that did political consulting. It helped get people elected to Congress, to the Senate. And then when he came to those same lawmakers who he had helped put in office, saying, hey, I've got a client here from whatever country or whatever firm that needs some help, the lawmaker is talking to the person he depends upon for reelection. So there's this confluence of interest, or you could see it as a conflict of interest, right?"

Interview: 

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/14/g-s1-16968/foreign-agents-explores-the-u-s-citizens-lobbying-for-foreign-governments

How homebuilders are blocking measures to save energy - The Washington Post

There's no debate that boosting the energy efficiency of new homes often increases upfront costs, but the builders appear to be inflating the numbers. A federal study found that North Carolina's proposed code update would have added at most about $6,500 to the price of a newly built home, not $20,400. According to the analysis, these changes would have paid for themselves through lower power bills and, during the first year alone, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of taking 29,000 cars off the road...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/02/21/homebuilders-energy-efficiency-climate/

The sugar lobby’s up to its old tricks again | The Hill

But the "no cost to taxpayers" claim is not true, simply because taxpayers are consumers. And they are paying much higher prices for the sugar they buy at the store, as well a little bit more for every candy, baked good, and other processed products they purchase...

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4314929-the-sugar-lobbys-up-to-its-old-tricks-again/

‘Even more insidious than the NRA’: US gun lobby group gains in power

"From leading dangerous smear campaigns against ATF director nominees who publicly promise to better regulate the gun industry, and bullying members of Congress to vote against even the most reasonable pieces of legislation regulating guns, the NSSF continues to value gun-industry profits more than the American people's right to live in safe communities," Vokhiwa said. 

Other gun-control advocates say the NSSF, like the NRA, has often exploited fears of gun owners and pushed conspiracy theories about "big government" efforts to undermine the second amendment, in order to rally opposition to gun-control measures. 

"The firearms industry was peddling anti-government conspiracies long before Trump came along talking about the "deep state"," said Suplina. "That includes claiming that even modest proposals for gun-violence prevention, like requiring background checks on every gun sale, are part of a sinister government plot to disarm all Americans…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/01/gun-lobby-nra-national-shooting-sports-foundation

Foundation for Government Accountability behind child labor law rollbacks, emails show - The Washington Post

The Foundation for Government Accountability, a Florida-based think tank and lobbying group, drafted state legislation to strip child workplace protections, emails show…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/23/child-labor-lobbying-fga/

A Dirty Campaign Defeated Gigi Sohn. We Can't Let it Happen Again.

They're celebrating today at Comcast and Fox, where their lobbyists deserve most of the credit for concocting lies to derail Sohn's nomination. They falsely portrayed her as radical and divisive, even though her years of experience tell a different story—about a highly regarded expert who has reached across political divides to support communications policies that help people.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gigi-sohn-fcc

Toxic train derailment due to greed and weakened rules, Sherrod Brown says - POLITICO

"You think about just the whole idea of you had to flee your home because of something — because a railroad failed to do its job, as the executives and their lobbyists get richer and richer and richer," Brown said. "And there's something very wrong with that."

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/19/sherrod-brown-train-derailment-ohio-00083588

Alito’s Hobby Lobby leak: The real problem with SCOTUS ethics rules right now.

And that is the crux of it. The fact that some of the justices believe that "casual" and "social" relationships with lobbyists, activists, and interested parties who have business before the court are appropriate and acceptable is the problem, because it means they cannot be trusted to avoid such contacts.

 The problem is that the same justices who keep blaming their colleagues and the press and the American public for broad declining trust in the institution seem to have no comprehension of what kinds of behaviors appear to be inappropriate because they actually areinappropriate. Traffic court judges in towns with four stoplights know better than to drink and vacation and shoot with interested parties before them, much less set aside choice seats for big ticket cases. Evidently it's different when the interested parties are rich...

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/11/alito-leak-hobby-lobby-real-problem.html

UAE meddled in U.S. political system, intelligence report says - The Washington Post

The UAE has spent more than $154 million on lobbyists since 2016, according to Justice Department records. It has spent hundreds of millions of dollars more on donations to American universities and think tanks, many that produce policy papers with findings favorable to UAE interests. 

There is no prohibition in the United States on lobbyists donating money to political campaigns. One U.S. lawmaker who read the intelligence report told The Post that it illustrates how American democracy is being distorted by foreign money, saying it should serve as a wake-up call...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/12/uae-meddled-us-politics-intel-report/

Revealed: Ginni Thomas’s links to anti-abortion groups who lobbied to overturn Roe

Thomas herself has denied any conflict of interest between her activism and her husband's jurisprudence. She told the Washington Free Beacon earlier this year: "We have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn't discuss his work with me, and I don't involve him in my work." 

Whether that is true is perhaps a moot point, given that the mere appearance of conflict of interest can in itself damage an institution's reputation. Already, the supreme court is viewed unfavourably by 44% of the American people according to a Pew Research Center poll, with only 16% thinking they do an excellent or good job keeping their personal political views out of their decisions. 

"The supreme court is unlike any other branch because it only has its legitimacy to make the public adhere to what it does. Lose that and the court loses the kind of institutional pull that makes the law come together and bind us," Murray said…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/09/ginni-thomas-abortion-roe-v-wade-supreme-court