Targets
Chamber’s secretive lobbying practices
Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called on the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk
of the House to investigate whether the nation’s largest lobbying force, the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is shirking its responsibly to disclose on whose
behalf it is lobbying.
Under the Lobbying Disclosure Act,
entities that lobby Congress are required to file reports with the House and
Senate detailing which member entities directed the lobbying and stand to
benefit from it. The Chamber spends more on federal lobbying than any
other such entity.
Yet, in virtually every filing since the lobbying transparency law came into force in 2008, the Chamber has failed to disclose which of its members funded and directed its lobbying.
Without such disclosure on the part of Washington’s biggest lobbyist, the senators write, Congress and the public cannot track which big corporate interests are winning favors.
Yet, in virtually every filing since the lobbying transparency law came into force in 2008, the Chamber has failed to disclose which of its members funded and directed its lobbying.
Without such disclosure on the part of Washington’s biggest lobbyist, the senators write, Congress and the public cannot track which big corporate interests are winning favors.
“In enacting the [Lobbying Disclosure Act], Congress found that ‘the effective public disclosure of the identity and extent of the efforts of paid lobbyists to influence Federal officials in the conduct of Government actions will increase public confidence in the integrity of Government,’”
Whitehouse and Warren write. “As the Chamber spends more on federal lobbying than any other entity, its failure to comply with the law would raise questions regarding Congress’s ability to track the efforts of special interests to influence public policy. Powerful interest groups should not be allowed to flout transparency requirements designed to promote public confidence in our government.”
In 2007, in the wake of the Jack
Abramoff scandal, Congress amended the Lobbying Disclosure Act to require more
frequent and thorough public disclosure of lobbying activity and to require
that those disclosures be posted online.
Groups like the Chamber, which does not disclose its members publicly, needed under the law to indicate in filings which of their members funded and directed their lobbying.
Groups like the Chamber, which does not disclose its members publicly, needed under the law to indicate in filings which of their members funded and directed their lobbying.
According to a review by Whitehouse
and Warren of those disclosures through the first quarter of 2019, the Chamber
either failed to provide any information on members that funded and directed
its lobbying or provided links to websites that did not provide the required
information.
Full text of the senators’ letter is
below. A PDF copy is available here.
July 10, 2019
The Honorable Julie Adams
Secretary of the Senate
U.S. Capitol, Room S-312
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Ms. Adams:
We write to request that your office
determine whether the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber) is in compliance
with the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA).
In 2007, Congress strengthened the
LDA through the passage of Section 207 of the Honest Leadership and Open
Government Act, the objective of which was to provide the public with
information about the membership of lobbying coalitions and associations. Section 207 amended the LDA to require disclosure of entities that contribute
at least $5,000 in a quarterly period toward a coalition or association’s
“lobbying activities” and that “actively participate in the planning,
supervision or control of such lobbying activities.”[1]
Guidance issued by the Secretary of
the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives defines such entities
as “affiliated organizations” and defines the term “actively participates.”[2] The template lobbying report form
developed by the Secretary and the Clerk provides for disclosure of “affiliated
organizations” on line 25 of the form. If a lobbying coalition or
association publicly lists its members or contributors on its website, no
further disclosure is required.[3]
We examined the Chamber’s lobbying
reports from 2008, the year that the requirement to disclose affiliated
organizations went into effect, through the first quarter of 2019.
Starting with its second quarter 2016 report and continuing through to its
first quarter 2019 report, the Chamber did not disclose any information
relating to affiliated organizations.[4] Prior to the second quarter 2016
report, the Chamber periodically disclosed various website addresses on line 25
of its disclosure forms. However, in all but one instance, the websites
referenced by the Chamber do not include information on affiliated
organizations. In the one instance where it did disclose affiliated
organizations, the Chamber’s list appears to be incomplete and only includes
members of an anti-counterfeiting coalition.[5] The Chamber also does not publicly
disclose its members or contributors.[6]
Based upon information provided by
Chamber member companies, it is our understanding that policy and lobbying
decisions within the Chamber are made by member companies that participate on
one or more internal Chamber policy committees. Indeed, the Chamber’s
website references these committees, noting that “Elite” and “C100” members get
to serve on “one of more than 30 U.S. Chamber Policy Committees” whose “members
help define Chamber positions….”[7]
Given this lack of disclosure, we
believe that the Chamber may not be in compliance with the LDA’s requirement
that it disclose affiliated organizations that fund and actively participate in
its lobbying activities. The Chamber’s practice also appears to be
inconsistent with the disclosures made by the largest trade and professional
associations, the majority of which appear to comply with the LDA’s requirement
to disclose affiliated organizations.[8]
In enacting the LDA, Congress found
that “the effective public disclosure of the identity and extent of the efforts
of paid lobbyists to influence Federal officials in the conduct of
Government actions will increase public confidence in the integrity of
Government.”[9] As the Chamber spends more on
federal lobbying than any other entity, its failure to comply with the law
would raise questions regarding Congress’s ability to track the efforts of
special interests to influence public policy.
Powerful interest groups should not be allowed to flout transparency requirements designed to promote public confidence in our government.
Powerful interest groups should not be allowed to flout transparency requirements designed to promote public confidence in our government.
The LDA requires that the Secretary
and the Clerk “review, and, where necessary, verify and inquire to ensure the
accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of registration and reports.”[10] If a lobbying organization fails to
appropriately respond within 60 days of having received a written notice of
noncompliance by the Secretary or the Clerk, the matter must be referred to the
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.[11]
Accordingly, we ask you to review
the Chamber’s lobbying disclosure reports and determine whether the Chamber is
in compliance with the LDA and Section 207 of the Honest Leadership and Open
Government Act. Should you determine that the Chamber is not in
compliance, we ask that you take appropriate steps to ensure that its future
lobbying reports are compliant and that its past lobbying reports are amended
to bring them into compliance.
###
[2] Lobbying
Disclosure Act Guidance, last revised Jan. 31, 2017, available at https://lobbyingdisclosure.house.gov/ldaguidance.pdf
[4] See,
e.g., First Quarter 2019 Lobbying Report, Chamber of Commerce of the
U.S.A., available at https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=CFF4535D-F93F-4B7D-8234-BCDAE6D80F59&filingTypeID=51
[5] See,
e.g., First Quarter 2016 Lobbying Report, Chamber of Commerce of the
U.S.A., available at https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=2F495D6E-9760-4419-9DD0-2D3A06E057E5&filingTypeID=51
[6] The
Chamber does disclose the members of its Board of Directors on its
website, see, Board of Directors, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, available
athttps://www.uschamber.com/about/board-of-directors,
but this is a small subset of the Chamber’s contributing membership, so does
not satisfy 2 USC §1603(b)(7).
[7] Membership,
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, available at https://www.uschamber.com/members/associations/membership
[8] The
top 15 trade and professional associations by 2018 federal lobbying spending.
They are, in descending order, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National
Association of Realtors (NAR), PhRMA, the American Hospital Association (AHA),
the Business Roundtable, the American Medical Association (AMA), the National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB), NCTA The Internet and Television
Association, CTIA - The Wireless Association, the Biotechnology Innovation
Organization (BIO), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the
American Chemistry Council (ACC), the National Retail Federation (NRF), the
American Petroleum Institute (API), and America’s Health Insurance Plans
(AHIP). Ten of the top 15 (PhRMA, AHA, the Business Roundtable, AMA,
NCTA, CTIA, BIO, ACC, API, and AHIP) list their members on their website.
One of the top 15 (NAM) provides a url on line 25 of its quarterly lobbying
reports that directs to a list of affiliated organizations. Only the
Chamber, NAR, NAB, and NRF neither disclose their members on their website nor
provide responsive information on line 25 of their quarterly lobbying
reports.