ConsumerWatchDog: “Google trimmed its spending on lobbying in the second quarter by 13 percent to $4.62 million, according to disclosure forms filed today with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, but still significantly outspent other tech giants. Google spent $5.29 million on federal lobbying in the second quarter of 2014 and $5.1 million in the first quarter of 2015. Both Facebook and Amazon set records in their efforts to influence policymakers during the second quarter. “The massive amounts these companies are spending demonstrates how policymaking is now about who has the big bucks rather than who has the big ideas,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director. Facebook spent $2.69 million in the second quarter of 2015, a record, and up 27 percent from $2.12 million in the second quarter of 2014. It topped Facebook’s first quarter spending of $2.44 million by 10 percent. Amazon’s spending on lobbying soared 103 percent to a record $2.15 million in the second quarter of 2015 from $1.06 million in the comparable 2014 period. Microsoft, which used to lead tech companies in the amount spent on lobbying, trimmed its expenditures again. It spent $2.24 million in the second quarter of 2015 compared to $2.34 million in the same period of 2014, a 4 percent decrease.

• Here is a link to the Clerk of the House’s Lobbying Disclosure database: http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldsearch.aspx“