Sunlight Foundation’s Ryan Sibley has uncovered dramatic new numbers that point to the increasingly high profile of Miscellaneous Tariff Bills (MTBs) in Congress and shine additional light on a long obscured area of influence-peddling, as highlighted in this April 16 Beltway Confidential post.

Sibley examined Senate lobbying records and found that at least 71 companies have spent an estimated $14 million lobbying members of Congress for specific MTBs. Another nine firms have registered to lobby for MTBs but have not yet reported expenditures on those efforts.