ABSTRACT
Textbooks will tell you that there are 535 voting members of Congress (MCs)— 100 senators and 435 representatives. These are the people charged with representing us and making public policy. But they are not alone in the legislative branch. Each member has an army of personal staffers to assist him/her, and each committee has its own staff as well. But it does not end there. There is an additional cadre of men and women involved in congressional policymaking-these are the lobbyists. Lobbyists are paid professionals who represent the interests of all manner of interest groups in Washington, DC. Lobbyists are an integral part of the congressional policymaking process, and they always have been. In this chapter, I discuss the role of lobbyists and the interest groups they represent in the congressional process. Specifically, I examine who lobbyists represent, what they do, and the extent to which they get what they want.
