LOBBYING AFTER DISASTER

C.32 In the decade before the Ohio derailment disaster, Norfolk Southern spent more than $20 million paying its own in-house lobbyists and outside contract lobbyists to lobby Congress, federal agencies, and the White House.33 (see Figure 1) This direct lobbying spending by Norfolk Southern came on top of the tens of millions spent on lobbying by the Association of American Railroads, the trade org. [...] 35 Norfolk Southern’s federal lobbying spending in 2023 increased by 30% over the $1,800,000 in lobbying spending the previous year and was the most Norfolk Southern reported spending on federal lobbying since 2015.36 (see Figure 1) 32 Pram Thakker, Norfolk Southern Has Thrown Roughly $100 Million Into Politics Since 1990, THE NEW REPUBLIC (February 20, 2023), and Norfo. [...] A review of Norfolk Southern’s federal lobbying filings found that, in 2023, Norfolk Southern employed 41 Washington lobbyists, including 3 former members of Congress and more than two dozen former staffers in Congress, federal agencies, and the White House.38 37 Public Citizen analysis of Norfolk Southern federal lobbying data from OPENSECRETS (viewed on January 26, 2024), . [...] The Lobbying Disclosure Act does not require federal lobbyists to disclose which people they lobbied, how much was spent lobbying on a specific issue – current lobbying reports only require disclosure of spending on all issues combined – or even whether the lobbyists were lobbying for or against the bills they reported lobbying on.42 A review of Norfolk Southern’s federal lobbying filings found th. [...] Senators Ask the SEC to Require Lobbying Disclosure Due to the inadequacy of existing corporate lobbying disclosures, last November, a group of five United States Senators sent a letter to the Chair of the SEC calling on the Commission to begin the process of developing rules to require publicly traded companies to disclose to investors their corporate lobbying spending, lobbying strategy, and any.