Top companies and organizations lobbying Congress and federal agencies

April 21, 2015 -- Monday, April 20, marked the deadline for companies and organizations to file their 2015 first quarter federal lobbying disclosure reports. Below is a list of the top ten organizations and how much they spent lobbying Congress and federal agencies between January 1, 2015, and March 31, 2015. DATA: MapLight analysis of the money spent by companies and organizations lobbying Congress and federal agencies between January 1, 2015, and March 31, 2015, on all issues. Data Source: Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. Lobbying Organization Amount Spent on Lobbying Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. $13,800,000 National Association of Realtors $7,700,000 American Medical Association $6,720,000 U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform $5,720,000 Google, Inc. $5,470,000 Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America $5,440,000 General Electric Company $4,750,000 National Association of Broadcasters $4,720,000 American Electric Power Company, Inc. and affiliated corporations $4,685,670 American Hospital Association $4,630,000 The top spender, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, spent $13.8 million on lobbying Congress and federal agencies during the first quarter of 2015. The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, an affiliate of the Chamber of Commerce, spent another $5.7 million on lobbying. Google spent $5.5 million on lobbying during the first quarter of 2015, the most it has ever spent in one quarter. To see how much each company has spent on lobbying since 2008, please click here to viewMapLight's Federal Lobbying Database. Lobbying Methodology: MapLight analysis of federal lobbying disclosure filings from the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives between January 1, 2015, and March 31, 2015. Lobbying totals represent money paid by an organization to each lobbying firm for services on all issues. Organizations report total lobbying expenses as a lump sum, which includes both in-house lobbying expenses and amounts paid to (and reported by) lobbying firms that they employ. MapLight calculates a given organization's in-house lobbying expenses by subtracting the total income reported by the lobbying firms that it employs from the company's total reported expenses. In general, filers may round their spending and expenses to the nearest $10,000, and we treat the designation of "Less than $5,000" as a value of $0. MapLight updates its lobbying database daily to capture amendments. Full reports are due on the 20th day of January, April, July, and October. Editor's note: Please cite MapLight if you use data from this analysis, "A MapLight analysis of federal lobbying disclosure filings show.." (or something similar - thank you!) A link to this report can be foundhere. MapLight is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan research organization that tracks money's influence on politics.