The Moneyed Class

The reality of why we don't have a health care bill yet?  2009 saw nearly $3.5 billion spent by lobbyists on 535 members of Congress.

As the Center for Responsive Politics reported last week, federal lobbying soared to record levels last year, as lawmakers clocked long hours and worked at a pace to be, in the opinion of one congressional scholar, the most productive Congress in decades.

This translates to about $1.3 million spent on lobbying for every hour that Congress was in session in 2009, the Center for Responsive Politics has found.

Lawmakers in both chambers met for a total of 2,668 hours, according congressional records. The U.S. Senate was open for business on 191 days, while the U.S. House convened on 159 days.

Federal lobbying records show clients spent $3.47 billion on lobbying Congress, the White House and other federal agencies.

Some clients -- such as the big-spending U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- also include dollars spent on grassroots lobbying efforts, and not just sums spent at the federal level. And lobbying expenditures are not only made when Congress is officially in session. 

The Big Pharma/Insurance lobbies alone spent more than half a billion dollars on Congress.  What did you spend on them?  I'm guessing less than that.  This is why insurance companies are allowed to profit off of health care.