As Uber (UBER) has grown, so has its spending aimed at influencing Washington decision-makers.
In the first quarter of 2019 – the final quarter before the company’s highly-anticipated IPO – Uber spent more than 10 times what it did on federal lobbying in all of 2013, the first year it lobbied in D.C. (On Thursday, Uber priced its IPO at $45 per share. At that price, the company raised $8.1 billion at a valuation of $82.4 billion.)
“As its presence has grown in our lives, its presence has grown in Washington,” said Brendan Quinn with the Center for Responsive Politics. “Its increase in lobbying has reflected its rise in popularity and relevance.”
According to its disclosures filed with the House and Senate, Uber spent $570,000 in the first three months of 2019, compared to just $50,000 in 2013. Every year since 2013, it has ramped up its spending on federal lobbying.
“They [Uber] need to make sure that they're protected, that they're not attacked by politicians who decide that they're going to regulate them at the national level, in particular,” said Steven Billet, a professor at George Washington University. “And there seems to be some appetite in the Congress just now to do something like that.”
Uber’s primary competitor, Lyft, spent $870,000 on lobbying in 2018 and $240,000 in Q1 before its IPO on March 29.
The money Uber and Lyft put toward lobbying is just a fraction of what tech companies like Facebook and Amazon spent – $3.4 million and $3.9 million in the first quarter, respectively.
While the tech giants are facing intense scrutiny on a national level, Uber spends significant time and resources lobbying on a state and local level.
Confronting local regulations
The ride-share company reportedly spent $2 million to lobby for the New York City congestion charge alone. (Uber has supported congestion pricing nationwide.)
“They're confronting local regulations, they absolutely have to have a more significant presence in those places – and they do,” Billet said. “That's a whole lot different than what Facebook or Google or Amazon or others would do at the local level, where they don't confront that, that marketplace regulation and the possible violation of local law, local regulation.”
The agencies Uber lobbies and the issues it’s focused on reflect the company’s ambitions.
Disclosures show Uber is trying to steer federal policymakers and regulators on myriad issues, including keeping its drivers classified as independent contractors, autonomous vehicles, “compliance for new technologies in the non-emergency medical transportation field,” “advancements in vertical take-off and landing technology.”
In addition to its outreach on Capitol Hill, the company lobbied the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Labor, Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies.
“This is more than a ride-sharing company as far as they're concerned,” said Billet. “They need to position themselves for much more. They're going to compete for the autonomous vehicle market. They may need help at different times politically to get from here to there.”
Uber was not immediately available to comment on this story.
–Ben Werschkul contributed reporting to this article.
Jessica Smith is a reporter for Yahoo Finance based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @JessicaASmith8.
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