“…Congressional hearings related to the issue areas of concern to interest groups also stimulate their mobilization, even at the state level . Lobbyists are more active in issue areas associated with more government spending and more congressional hearings, but the relationship with hearings is stronger because lobbying is often directed at potential regulations (Baumgartner et al, 2011). All of these analyses find that total lobbying by issue area is relatively stable, however, with most organizations lobbying the same amount on the same general concerns each year (Leech et al, 2005;Baumgartner et al, , 2011.…”