Electronic Cigarettes
Vaping's popularity is on a straight upward trajectory; the market value of e-cigarettes crept toward $2 billion in 2013. But the devices and the fluids that go in them are relatively unregulated, especially compared with their tobacco-and-paper cousins. Leading manufacturers want to keep it that way and are spending accordingly, while public health advocates push for more rules.
Intellectual Property
Congress' attempts to revise the U.S. patent system in order to address the rise of patent trolls have resulted in an abundance of coalitions lobbying on this issue. The tech industry, pharmaceutical companies, universities and trial lawyers have been among the most active players in these alliances.
Marijuana
Colorado and a few other states are seeing a boom in retail stores selling cannabis products. As the recreational marijuana industry continues to grow, so too does its political presence and the amount of money being spent on behalf of industry interests.
Online Gaming
The gaming industry's involvement in politics has grown significantly over the past two decades. That's been a boon mostly to Democrats, who have historically received more contributions from the industry -- although 1998 and 2002, when federal gambling policy was in the news, were exceptions. In addition, the gaming industry's lobbying activity has held strong even during the last few years, when the overall amount spent on lobbying by various interests has declined.
Energy & Climate Change
Supply, cost, environmental consequences - these are among the central features of debate over energy policy in the U.S. Those who want to open up more areas to drilling - on land and offshore - and expand the use of fracking to extract natural gas from deep underground argue that we must reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
Defense
The use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria's civil war prompted President Obama to ask Congress to authorize military action against the government of the Middle Eastern nation. That was put on hold after the U.S. and Russia, with Syria, struck a deal that is supposed to lead to destruction of those weapons.
Banking
In this section we've compiled a brief history of banking policy and some of its effects on the U.S. economy and a compilation of our data showing the monetary relationship between the financial industry and policy and legislators.
Immigration
Immigration has been a hot button issue in the current Congress, with hundreds of organizations, unions, and corporations lobbying on the issue. Many of these same organizations are also regular contributors to lawmakers at the center of the debate.
Gun Rights
The spotlight on the debate over gun ownership in the U.S. has been a political hot potato for years, and one that Congress has dealt with too gingerly, in the view of groups favoring tighter regulation of firearms.
Electricity
The U.S. electric industry is undergoing a sea change in the way it delivers electricity to millions of households and businesses nationwide, giving consumers the power to choose their electricity provider in much the same way they choose telephone carriers.
Bankruptcy
A coalition pushing a bill to make it harder for people to erase their debts gave big to lawmakers.
