How many lobbyists and how much money...
... does it take to pass a Medicare bill?
The pharmaceutical industry alone has about 600 lobbyists. That happens to me more than the number of Congressmen -- there's at least one pharmaceutical industry lobbyist for every Congressman.
As for the money spent by lobbyists, it was a lot:
AARP and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America both increased their lobbying expenditures sharply in 2003, as they worked to "influence the controversial" Medicare legislation, The Hill reports. According to The Hill, while both groups lobbied Congress on many issues in 2003, "their top priority was passage" of the Medicare legislation. Last year, AARP, which endorsed the legislation, spent $20.9 million on lobbying activities, nearly $16 million more than in 2002. AARP spent $16.38 million of its total lobbying expenditures in the second half of 2003, when the momentum of negotiations over the Medicare legislation increased. PhRMA spent about $16 million in all of 2003, up from $14.3 million in 2002, with expenditures spread evenly across the year. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer spent $3.7 million on lobbying last year, and GlaxoSmithKline spent $5 million (Gerber/Cusack, The Hill, 3/17).
[Thanks to PM]
11:59:11 PM 
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