Just 50 companies dropped $714 million on lobbying last year

A full quarter of all lobbyist spending in 2015 — some $714 million out of $3.2 billion — came from just 50 companies and trade organizations, per data tallied for The Hill.

The top 50 list is dominated by familiar names like Verizon, Comcast, Amazon, Facebook, Boeing, General Electric, Alphabet (Google's new parent company), Lockheed Martin, CVS, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft. Topping the list is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which alone spent $84 million in 2015, more than the next three lobbying organizations combined.

The 2015 total actually marks a 5 percent decline from 2014's spending, and the $714 million figure does include some related expenditures that are not technically considered lobbying, like campaign donations.

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