The Effect of Lobbyist Fundraising on Legislators

This paper uses congressional fundraising events as data for the first time and links the lobbyists who host these fundraisers to their expressed policy preferences regarding congressional health reform legislation in 2009. The analysis suggests that lobbyists who host fundraisers for members of the committee that authored the Affordable Care Act are 4 times more likely than others who lobbied the committee to have their legislative requests introduced as amendments by committee members. This effect is important, as amendments supported by lobbying groups are twice as likely as other amendments to be accepted into the law. While lobbyist-requested amendments have diffuse costs and attract little media attention, they often have concentrated financial benefits for the organizations that lobby—and even fundraise—to get them.