Full disclosure of RTX’s lobbying activities and expenditures is needed to assess whether RTX’s lobbying is consistent with its expressed goals and in shareowners’ best interests. RTX spent $49,080,000 from 2020 – 2023 on federal lobbying. This does not include state lobbying, where RTX also lobbies but disclosure is uneven or absent. RTX also lobbies abroad, spending between €200,000–299,000 on lobbying in Europe for 2023. RTX’s federal lobbying has come under scrutiny as it settled charges of bribery and fraud for over $950 million. [1]

Companies can give unlimited amounts to third party groups that spend millions on lobbying and undisclosed grassroots activity. [2] RTX fails to disclose its payments to trade associations and social welfare groups (SWGs), or the amounts used for lobbying, to shareholders. RTX’s trade association disclosure is also incomplete, failing to disclose a top limit for payments over $50,000. RTX belongs to the Business Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and US Chamber Commerce, which together spent $101,330,000 on federal lobbying for 2023. And RTX’s disclosure leaves out its payments to SWGs, like the Alliance for Competitive Taxation and US Global Leadership Coalition.

RTX’s lack of disclosure presents reputational risks when its lobbying contradicts company public positions. For example, RTX supports addressing climate change, yet the Business Roundtable filed an amicus brief opposing the Securities and Exchange Commission climate risk disclosure rules [3] and the Chamber opposed the Paris climate accord. As RTX has drawn attention for lobbying for tax breaks, [4] NAM has attracted attention for predicting “a million job losses over the next two years without additional tax breaks.” [5]

Reputational damage stemming from these misalignments could harm shareowner value. RTX should expand its lobbying disclosure.