The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s most powerful business group, upped its lobbying spending in the first half of 2012.
The Chamber and the affiliated Institute for Legal Reform spent $55 million on lobbying in the first half of 2012, compared to approximately $31 million for the same period last year, according to Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) filings released Friday.
Lobbying expenses totaled $29 million for the second quarter of the year, which ended June 30, a slight increase over the $26 million spent in the first quarter of 2011.
The Chamber is on pace to exceed its lobbying spending in 2011, but is unlikely to match the furious activity of 2010, when work on the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and healthcare reform dominated Washington.
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