President Obama claims to have kept “lobbyists” off the advisory boards for USTR. The Obama Administration relies upon the narrow legal definition of those persons who register to lobby the US Congress, which excludes expenditures to direct, supervise or support the lobbyists, and expenditures of many staff and consultants who are not fully engaged in lobbying the Congress. Expenditures to influence the executive branch (including USTR) has very little if any regulation, and are not counted as lobbying. Here are the 2009 total expenses for six trade associations that seek to shape USTR policies on intellectual property rights, and the percent of their expenditures that were reported as “lobbying.”
Pharmaceutical Research And Manufacturers Of America (PhRMA)
2009 Expenses: $341,687,124
2009 Total Lobbying Expenditures: $26,150,520
Biotechnology Industry Organization(BIO)
2009 Expenses: $63,396,539
2009 Total Lobbying Expenditures: $7,360,000
Motion Pictures Association Of America (MPAA)
2009 Expenses: $64,418,941
2009 Total Lobbying Expenditures: $1,890,000
Record Industry Association Of America Inc (RIIA)
April 2009 To March 2010 Expenses: $35,244,277
2009 Total Lobbying Expenditures: $6,246,809
Business Software Alliance (BSA)
2009 Total Expenses: $57,009,721
2009 Total Lobbying Expenditures: $1,650,000
Association of American Publishers (AAP)
2009 Total Expenses: $16,242,134
2009 Total Lobbying Expenditures: $461,000