--- title: The Epic Scale of Lobbying Cash description: The shocking scale of lobbying spending, the difference between quality care and customer service, and more. canonical: https://time.com/3829445/scale-lobbying-cash/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-21T16:01:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:29.032Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Epic Scale of Lobbying Cash og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/3829445/scale-lobbying-cash/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Epic Scale of Lobbying Cash twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Epic Scale of Lobbying Cash by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Apr 21, 2015 4:01 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Apr 21, 2015 4:01 PM UTC **1\.** [**Corporations now spend more lobbying Congress than taxpayers spend funding Congress.**](https://www.vox.com/2015/4/20/8455235/congress-lobbying-money-statistic) By Ezra Klein in Vox **2\.** [**Customer satisfaction and quality health care aren’t the same.**](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/04/the-problem-with-satisfied-patients/390684/) By Alexandra Robbins in the Atlantic **3\.** [**Here’s how manufacturers can cut costs and carbon emissions.**](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2015/04/19/the-marriage-of-natural-gas-and-microgrids-is-greening-manufacturing/) By Ken Silverstein in Forbes **4\.** [**Why is the U.S. condemned to have second-rate train service?**](http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/amtrak-acela-high-speed-trains-20150417) By Simon van Zuylen-Wood in National Journal **5\.** [**Scientists want to use lasers to shoot down space junk.**](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-want-use-lasers-shoot-down-space-junk-180955052/) By Marissa Fessenden at Smithsonian magazine  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3829445/scale-lobbying-cash/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3829445/scale-lobbying-cash/"},"headline":"The Epic Scale of Lobbying Cash","datePublished":"2015-04-21T16:01:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:29.032Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/3829445/scale-lobbying-cash/","keywords":["Innovation","Obamacare","Congress","Affordable Care Act","carbon emissions","hospitals","Amtrak","Trains","Natural gas","Campaigns","Manufacturing","Lobbying","patients"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3829445/scale-lobbying-cash/","name":"The Epic Scale of Lobbying Cash"}}]}] ```