Total spending on lobbying by the biggest interest groups fell in the first three quarters of 2023 compared to last year amid partisan gridlock in a divided Congress.
In the first nine months of the year, top influence groups spent $199.3 million on lobbying efforts, down about 16 percent from the $238.3 million spent through the end of September last year, according to disclosures filed with the House and Senate last week. The dip came as the steady clip of major laws that moved through the last Congress slowed to a trickle this session with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans the House, where GOP leadership has struggled to maintain control of its conference.
“Clearly, there’s less spending out there going on because we don’t have three major bills moving through the process that we did in the last Congress,” said Rich Gold, who heads Holland & Knight’s public policy and regulation group.
