Apple's lobbyist budget in Washington D.C. has exploded during the Trump admininstration, with the company paying a record $2.2 million in the last quarter.
The $2.2 million, as seen in mandatory quaarterly reporting of lobbying expenses to the U.S. House of Representatives, eclipses the previous record, also set during the new presidency. In the first quarter of 2017, Apple spent $1.4 million.
In the year-ago quarter under the Obama administration, Apple spent $1.12 million. The entirety of 2016 saw Apple spend $4.7 million to lobby for its interests in D.C.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook recently met with President Trump at a technology summit in June. Cook reportedly suggested making programming a mandatory subject in the country's schools. It is not clear if contentious immigration or tax reform issues were addressed at that meeting.
"Governments can affect our ability to do what we do. They can affect it in positive ways and they can affect in not so positive ways. What we do is focus on the policies," Cook said in December, speaking about meeting with the then-President Elect. "Some of our key areas of focus are on privacy and security, education. They're on advocating for human rights for everyone, and expanding the definition of human rights. They're on the environment and really combating climate change, something we do by running our business on 100 percent renewable energy."
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