(Correction 8/2: The original version of this story misidentified the time period of several comparisons.)

More than 11,100 corporations, trade associations, unions and other groups hired 10,500 lobbyists during the second quarter, the Center for Responsive Politics has found — outnumbering members of Congress roughly 20 to 1.

Overall, special interest groups spent more than $852 million on lobbying between April and June, according a Center review of reports filed last week with the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

Lobbyists for the Wall Street proved particularly active.

Companies and organizations classified by the Center as part of the finance, insurance and real estate sector spent more than $126 million during the second quarter — an increase of 12 percent more than they spent during the same period a year ago.

This was the largest increase of any sector.

Within the financial sector, the securities and investment industry and commercial banks were notably active. The securities and investment industry spent more than $27.6 million on lobbying between April and June — an increase of about 26 percent compared to the second quarter of 2009. Commercial banking interests spent $15.5 million — an increase of about 20 percent.

Such lobbying increases came during the latter stages of Congress’ debate over financial reform legislation. President Barack Obama signed a final bill into law earlier this month. Energy interests also increased their lobbying by about 10 percent compared to the same period last year, spending more than $111 million. Health interests spent nearly as much as Wall Street interest, investing about $125 million in lobbying operations during the second quarter. Nevertheless, this amount represent a decrease of about 7 percent compared to these groups’ spending between April and June last year, when Congress focused on crafting health care reform legislation. Since January, all special interests combined have reported spending more than $1.78 billion on lobbying. If spending continues at this pace, lobbying expenses this year will match, if not eclipse, the record $3.49 billion spent on lobbying last year. While lobbying expenditures dropped by about 7.6 percent overall between the first quarter and the second quarter, lobbying is up about 7.5 percent during the first half of this year compared to the first six months of 2009. During the first six months of 2010, the number of interest groups with active lobbyist has dropped by about 8 percent compared to the same period last year. The number of active lobbyists has also dropped about 5 percent compared to the first six months of 2009, the Center found. The Center is still processing the last of the lobbying reports filed last week, so these numbers may be adjusted slightly in the weeks ahead. Dig into more data yourself about specific companies, unions or interest groups in our lobbying database here.



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