WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Jeff Miller, the Florida Republican who chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is listed as a lobbyist for 45 clients of Ballard Partners on lobbying reports filed in 2025 and 2026, the most of any former member of Congress at 19 of Washington’s largest lobbying firms, according to a Washington Inquisitor review of Lobbying Disclosure Act records.
The review counted the distinct clients for which each former lawmaker was named on a firm’s quarterly reports, using the “covered position” field in which lobbyists must disclose past jobs in Congress and the executive branch. Nineteen former senators and House members turned up at the 19 firms the Inquisitor tracks, which range from Ballard, with $88.1 million in 2025 lobbying income, to Fierce Government Relations, with $12.3 million. Six of the top 10 are Republicans and four are Democrats. Miller’s clients on Ballard’s reports include UnitedHealthcare Services, Palantir Technologies and the private equity firm OceanSound Partners.
A count of clients is not a measure of income. Firms report what each client paid the firm, not what any individual lobbyist earned, and none of the firms discloses what it pays its partners.
| Former member | Firm | Clients on 2025–26 reports | Selected clients | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), House 2001–2017 | Ballard Partners | 45 | UnitedHealthcare Services, Palantir Technologies, OceanSound Partners | LDA filing |
| Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), House 2013–2023 | Mercury Public Affairs | 29 | Manitowoc Co., Korea Zinc, Gotion | LDA filing |
| David Vitter (R-La.), Senate 2005–2017 | Mercury Public Affairs | 28 | Korea Zinc, Tencent America, Society for Human Resource Management | LDA filing |
| Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Senate 2003–2015 | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | 26 | Palantir Technologies, Paramount Skydance, Fisher Investments | LDA filing |
| Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.), House 2011–2025 | Holland & Knight | 21 | Guidehouse, Convatec, Association of Organ Procurement Organizations | LDA filing |
| Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), House 2009–2023 | Williams and Jensen | 21 | Pfizer, Centene, I Squared Capital | LDA filing |
| Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), House 1993–2015 | Squire Patton Boggs | 20 | U.S. Virgin Islands government, Leidos, Coca-Cola | LDA filing |
| Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), House 2001–2019 | Squire Patton Boggs | 14 | Solar Energy Industries Association, Southwest Airlines | LDA filing |
| Ed Royce (R-Calif.), House 1993–2019 | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | 12 | Real Estate Roundtable, Jacobs Engineering, Flex | LDA filing |
| Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), House 2007–2023 | Holland & Knight | 11 | Novo Nordisk, Entegris, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community | LDA filing |
Mercury’s bipartisan pair
Mercury Public Affairs has two of the top three: former Rep. Cheri Bustos, an Illinois Democrat who led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, with 29 clients, and former Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, with 28. Their shared clients include Korea Zinc, Mercury’s largest client by reported income in 2025 at $1.33 million. Mercury’s reports list Bustos’s covered position as “Senate 2013-2023”; she served in the House in those years.
Two at Squire Patton Boggs, two at Holland & Knight
Squire Patton Boggs lists former Reps. Jack Kingston of Georgia, a longtime Appropriations Committee member, for 20 clients and Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, a former Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, for 14. Both are lobbyists for the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the firm’s largest 2025 client by reported income at $860,000. Holland & Knight lists former Rep. Larry Bucshon, an Indiana Republican and physician who left the House in January 2025, for 21 clients, many in health care, and former Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Colorado Democrat, for 11.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck lists former Sen. Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat, for 26 clients, including Palantir and Paramount Skydance, and former Rep. Ed Royce, the California Republican who chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee, for 12. Former Rep. Kurt Schrader, an Oregon Democrat who served on the Energy and Commerce Committee, appears for 21 clients of Williams and Jensen, including Pfizer and Centene.
The rules
Federal ethics law bars former House members from lobbying members and staff of Congress for one year after leaving office, and former senators for two years. The Lobbying Disclosure Act requires lobbyists to disclose covered government positions held in the previous 20 years. Several of the former lawmakers in the table left office well before that window, and some firms list their congressional service anyway. Lobbying by former members is legal, and the reports do not show which officials any of them contacted.
The Inquisitor reported on Oct. 24 that former Sen. Richard Burr and four former House members appeared on new lobbying registrations in early October. The full list behind this story, with a filing for each name, is kept in the Inquisitor’s K Street Power records and will be updated each quarter.
Request for comment
The Washington Inquisitor asked Ballard Partners, Mercury Public Affairs, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Holland & Knight, Squire Patton Boggs and Williams and Jensen to comment, and asked the watchdog group the Revolving Door Project about the movement of former lawmakers into lobbying. This story will be updated with any responses.
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