Recipe: Lobbying activity

Map a company’s federal political footprint: lobbying disclosures, PAC contributions, federal contract awards, regulatory engagement.

Tools used: search_lobbying, fec_committee_search, fec_committee_contributions, get_federal_spending, search_documents (Federal Register).

Calls: 4–5.

Sequence

1. Lobbying disclosures

search_lobbying({ client: "Microsoft" })

Returns quarterly disclosures: total spend, registrants, issues, specific bills mentioned. Aggregate by quarter for trend.

2. PAC contributions

fec_committee_search({ name: "Microsoft" })
// → committees associated with the entity (PACs, super PACs)

fec_committee_contributions({ committee_id: "C00229229" })
// → who they gave to, how much, when

Bucket by recipient party and chamber for the political profile.

3. Federal contract awards

get_federal_spending({ recipient: "Microsoft" })

Returns awards, contract types, agency breakdown. Companies that lobby AND have large federal contracts have a different posture than ones that just lobby.

4. Federal Register comments

search_documents({ query: "Microsoft", terms: "comment" })

Distinguish proposed-rule comments (active engagement) from passive mentions.

Citation pattern

Microsoft federal political footprint (last 4 quarters): $9.2M lobbying spend per Senate LDA, top issues AI regulation and antitrust. Microsoft PAC ($420K cycle-to-date, ~60% Republican-leaning) per FEC. $11.7B in federal contract awards FY 2024 per USAspending, primarily DOD and HHS. Microsoft submitted comments on 14 proposed rules in the last year per Federal Register.

Use the prompt

prompts/get({
  name: "lobbying_activity",
  arguments: { company: "Microsoft" }
})

Caveats

Lobbying disclosures lag 45 days after the quarter ends. Q1 2026 isn’t fully visible until mid-May.
Affiliated PACs. Companies often have a corporate PAC plus exec/employee PACs. Search broadly and aggregate.
Soft money / 501(c)(4)s. Not in FEC data. Public lobbying disclosures are the floor, not the full picture.
Federal contracts ≠ political alignment. Companies with large federal contracts span the spectrum.