Soros Just Quadrupled Lobbying Expenditures

Written by Thomas Lifson

George Soros must be really worried by all the progress President Trump is making. Soros’s Open Society Policy Center, the 501 (c)(4) nonprofit organization[i] that he sponsors spent more money lobbying the federal government last quarter than it has ever spent in its history. Joe Shoffstall reports in The Free Beacon that the Open Society Policy Center:

…reported spending $10.37 million between April 1 and June 30—an increase of nearly $8 million from the first quarter of the year when the center reported spending $2.52 million on its lobbying efforts.

That is an increase of 412%. And it is concentrated on foreign affairs:

The increase in its lobbying activities can be attributed to the group adding a number of issues related to the nomination of Donald Lu as the U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan and the nomination of David B. Cornstein as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, where Soros was born.

The group’s three in-house lobbyists additionally focused on a handful of issues related to North Korea such as the Preventing Preemptive Action in North Korea Act of 2017, the No Unconstitutional Strike against North Korea Act, the North Korea Nuclear Baseline Act, and issues related to security sector assistance, North Korea, and Defense in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019.

Soros’s organization has effectively been expelled by Hungary:

Hungary’s parliament approved a law that targeted foreign-funded NGOs last year saying that they could “threaten the country’s political and economic interests and interfere with the functioning of its institutions.” While the bill did not mention Soros directly by name, many Hungarian politicians have said they wanted to sweep Soros-tied organizations from the country.

Following the stepped up pressure, Soros’s organizations said in May that it had become impossible for the Open Society Foundations to operate in Hungary and announced that they would be leaving. The group said that their operations would be moved to Berlin.

Soros had made some of his billions of dollars with currency speculation, and has inflicted serious harm on nations like Thailand and the UK through his activities. No wonder his efforts are regarded with deep suspicion.

He obviously is deeply concerned by Trump:

Soros’s lobbying arm spent more ($16.2 million) during Trump’s first year in office than it had any previous year. (snip)

Between 2002 and 2012, the policy center reported spending $19,120,000 total on lobbying expenses, which averages to $1.9 million per year. Soros’s lobbying budget shot up to $11 million in 2013. The most Soros had spent prior to last was $12.4 million in 2014.