Lobbying Disclosures Screensaver

In the United States, the Lobbying Disclosure Act requires lobbying firms, and organisations that employ their own lobbyists, to register and file reports with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House. The Senate's LDA database is where the filings are searchable. A lobbying contact is an oral or written communication to a covered official, such as a Member of Congress, congressional staff or certain executive-branch officials, about legislation, rules, federal programs or Senate-confirmed nominations. Lobbying activities also include research and background work intended for use in such contacts.

A filing names a registrant, the lobbying firm or the organisation lobbying for itself, and a client, the party that employs or retains it. A separate quarterly report is filed for each client, due within 20 days after the quarter ends, and lists the issues, bill numbers where practicable, the chambers and agencies contacted and the lobbyists involved. Firms give a good-faith income estimate per client and self-lobbying organisations an expense estimate. Amounts over $5,000 are rounded to the nearest $10,000, and smaller ones are reported as "less than $5,000", which is why many entries carry no useful dollar value. Lobbyists and registrants also file semiannual reports on certain political contributions.

Seeing a client name on the board says only that a filing exists. It does not describe what was asked of government or whether the lobbying succeeded, and the Act's reporting rules apply to registrants above the registration thresholds, so some small lobbying efforts never appear.