General Motors spent $1.48M on lobbying in 4Q

DETROIT

General Motors Co. spent $1.48 million in the fourth quarter to lobby the federal government on climate change, safety and other issues in addition to the company's federally funded restructuring, according to a disclosure report.

That's less than half of the $3.32 million the Detroit automaker spent a year earlier but almost as much as the $1.54 million it spent in the third quarter of 2009 as it exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The automaker, now 61 percent owned by the U.S. government, also lobbied on fuel economy standards, transportation funding, telecommunications access, driver privacy issues, distracted driving, event data recorders, U.S.-China relations, tariffs and dozens of other issues, according to a report it filed Jan. 19 for the period of October through December.

GM received $52 billion in aid from the U.S. government as it ran out of cash and was forced into bankruptcy protection last year.

GM says it hopes to repay before June the $6.7 billion portion that is considered a loan. The company made a $1 billion quarterly payment in December and plans to make another by March 31.

Of the remaining $45.3 billion, the company plans to repay as much as possible with the proceeds of a public stock offering, perhaps later this year.

GM lobbied Congress, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and the Defense, Energy, Commerce and State departments, among others, according to the report filed with the House clerk's office.

The report was filed by former Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy Ken W. Cole, who was one of six lobbyists who did work for the company.