Campaign Finance Reform In Action
I thought it was supposed to decrease the effect of money on politics. Apparently not:
Lobbyists spent more than $1 billion in the first half of 2004 promoting their positions in front of the president and Congress, putting the nation on track for its first $2 billion lobbying year.
According to an analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Political Money Line campaign finance tracking service, $1.06 billion was spent between January and June on lobbying the executive branch and Congress.
That is an increase over the same time periods in 2003 ($963 million), 2002 ($859 million), 2001 ($791 million) and 2000 ($765 million).
The average spending per month was $176 million. Spending usually increases in the second half of the year, the group said.
