Tech Lobby Presence Grows in D.C.

In 2012, the tech industry lobby substantially ramped up their efforts to influence the federal legislative agenda. In the coming year, they are poised to grow their influence in Washington as debates rage over the future of technology investment programs and regulatory policies.

Over the past year, the American tech industry has publicly conceded it must begin actively shaping the policy agenda in Washington in response to attempts by Congress and the Obama administration to pursue regulatory policies that can have long-term consequences for their industry. In response, the tech lobby massively has ramped up efforts to influence the federal policy debate.

The Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting government transparency, provides insight into the growing power of the tech lobby industry via public records available on their Open Secrets website. For instance, by the end of the third quarter in 2012, the internet and computer industry lobby had spent nearly $100 million, the sixth most among all U.S. industry lobbies. According to Open Secrets, the growth of the tech industry lobby stands in sharp contrast to the pattern of general decline in the number of federal lobbyists and federal lobbying dollars spent. Google, for instance, was the fifth top federal lobbying spender in 2012, yet did not crack the top 20 in 2011.

The growth of the tech industry lobby can be explained, in part, as a response to recent federal legislative debates. For instance, Microsoft, who operates the second largest tech lobbying presence in D.C., spent the most amount of its lobbying dollars in 2012 on influencing the outcome of the Freedom To Invest Act, which included a provision to make the federal R&D tax credit permanent. Last year also featured congressional debate over internet privacy legislation (SOPA and PIPA) that was quickly struck down by a strong display of condemnation from U.S. Internet companies.

Tech companies are experimenting with different models of engagement as they ramp up their federal lobbying efforts. In September, some of the largest Internet companies in the U.S. (including Google, Amazon, Facebook, and eBay) formed a lobbying group called the Internet Association to address shared concerns over Internet regulation and other political issues. And within the industry, giants like Facebook and Google compete with lobbying firms representing small tech startups for political influence.

The growing clout of the tech industry also is visible by the working relationship between the U.S. government and American tech companies working in concert to address global policy issues related to Internet usage. Delegations of government officials and corporate CEOs have descended upon the European Union and the United Nations to contest new rulings on issues of consumer privacy and censorship.

As 2013 opens and the FTC closes an antitrust investigation against Google, the tech lobby is growing in strength and working to actively influence the policy debates in Washington.