revenue (65%) coming into the Roundtable was from membership dues of participating organizations. Lobbying Lobbying has always been a focus of the Roundtable. From 1998 to 2000, less than a million dollars was spent on lobbying. But, by 2001 after the creation of the Roundtable, more than $1.1 million was spent. For the next five years, the amount of money spent on lobbying increased. In 2006, less than $6.2 million was spent on lobbying. The next two years, more money was spent on lobbying than in 2006: $6,380,000 was spent in 2007, and $7,760,000 was spent in 2008. The next year, the Roundtable spent about $6.9 million on lobbying in Washington, DC, with more than $900,000 going to outside lobbying firms. The Center of Responsive Politics showed a continuation of this trend. From 2008 to 2011, an average of about $7.5 million was spent on lobbying each year. A good number of lobbyists representing the Roundtable have been involved in the revolving door between industry and government. Nine of them are part of the revolving door and one is a former congressman. Political contributions Even before its founding, the money contributed toward federal candidates has been spent. OpenSecrets notes that in the election cycles of 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1998, less than $90,000 was spent each year, with the highest amount in 1992 with about $85,200 spent. However, in the 2000s, the amount spent went up exponentially. An upward tick in the amount spent reached a high of $615,808 in the 2010 election cycle. Even with this increase, the money spent in the 2012 election cycle dropped almost by half. The money spent from the 1990s to the present has not been given to just one party, but to both major parties in Washington, Democrats and Republicans. In the three election cycles from 1990 to 1994, Democrats were given more money than Republicans. In the late 1990s, that changed with more money being given to Republicans than Democrats (1996 and 1998 election cycles). This only increased in the 2000s, with more contributions being given than ever before, with a height of more than $266,200 given to Republican Party candidates in the 2008 election cycle. Still, Democrats were the runner-up, and were given the highest amount of money in the same election cycle: more than $214,400. In the 2012 election cycle, $46,000 went to House Democrats, $122,000 to House Republicans