> They can't just call up their lobbyist who's already scheduled to golf with a congressman every other weekend and tell them to bring it up on their next trip.

I think you're vastly underestimating the impact of lobbying and overestimating the cost

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/708195702

Tax Professor wants to try to get a policy (automatically filled out tax returns for CA state taxes)he thinks will be good for the public passed.

He gets nowhere.

Hires a lobbyist at a discount

> BANKMAN: They gave me a deal because they thought it would be kind of fun to work for this crazed professor.

> VANEK SMITH: They were working for you, just you?

> BANKMAN: Yeah. They were working for me. And so the normal price, I think, would have been $140,000 to get Mike's services. But he gave it to me for only 35. So I paid 35,000, I believe.

Got a lot closer (opt in automatic filling) despite massive opposition from anti tax groups and tax prep software lobbyists