First quarter lobbying reports just filed with the U.S. Senate’s Office of Public Records (opens in new tab) show that Google (opens in new tab) lobbied Congress about electronic medical record provisions in the federal economic stimulus act.
When we raised concerns in February (opens in new tab) about Google’s "rumored lobbying" on the issue of online medical records, the Internet giant posted an item on its Public Policy Blog (opens in new tab) saying, "This claim — based on no evidence whatsoever — is 100 percent false and unfounded."
Google’s first quarter report says it spent $880,000 (opens in new tab) on its own lobbying efforts which included, "Online health-related initiatives; issues relating to online personal health records, including in connection with H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009."
After our February news release, Robert Boorstin, Google’s Director of Corportate and Policy Communications, attempted to have our funding cut off. (opens in new tab)
Today we wrote a letter to Googe CEO Eric Schmidt (opens in new tab) asking for an apology and a full exlpanation of what Google was doing in the Capitol. Based on the record so far, Google has offered only misleading explanations of their activities.
Stay tuned.
