Financial firms spending big sums on lobbying

As this Politico article explains, the issues of financial regulation and health care reform have fueled spending on lobbyists to work the halls of Congress. Efforts to strengthen oversight of financial institutions are an example of what's driving this:

[JPMorgan Chase] spent more than $5 million lobbying Congress last year and has already doled out nearly a half-million dollars in campaign donations to curry favor with lawmakers from both parties.

Among the key issues for the Wall Street giant is to kill or substantially revamp President Barack Obama’s proposed bank tax, which could cost the company about $1.5 billion a year ...

JPMorgan is hardly alone in dispatching its lobbyists to limit the damage.

Bank of America has spent nearly $4 million on lobbyists and donated more than $650,000 to lawmakers. But it, too, is facing a more than $1 billion annual payout if the bank tax is approved.