Harvard Spends $210,000 on Federal Lobbying in Second Quarter of 2026

Harvard spent $210,000 on federal lobbying in the second quarter of 2026, down slightly from the first quarter and 22 percent from the same period last year, according to disclosures filed Monday.

Harvard spent $270,000 in the second quarter of 2025, then a record high. By the halfway point of last year, Harvard had spent $500,000 on federal lobbying, compared with $430,000 through June of this year. Harvard spent nearly $1 million on its federal lobbying operation last year, its highest annual total since 2007.

Harvard also continued to pay $90,000 to Ballard Partners, the same amount it paid the firm in the first quarter. Harvard first retained Ballard, a lobbying firm closely tied to the Trump administration, days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025. The firm brought in more than $88.1 million in lobbying revenue last year, making it D.C.’s highest-earning lobbying firm.

Michael LaRosa, who had previously been assigned to Harvard’s case, was no longer listed among the University’s lobbyists this quarter. LaRosa previously served as a press secretary to former First Lady Jill Biden and a political contributor for ABC News. Brian D. Ballard and Daniel McFaul are still assigned to Harvard’s case.

Harvard also terminated its decadeslong relationship with O’Neill Athy and Casey, a boutique Washington D.C. lobbying firm that had represented the University since at least 1999. The termination went into effect on June 30. The firm’s other clients have also ended their retainers in recent months.

The University focused on many of the same issues cited in earlier filings, including student financial aid, immigration rights, and healthcare. Harvard reported lobbying on the College Financial Aid Clarity Act and Understanding the True Cost of College Act, along with other legislation covering “higher education and student aid issues,” according to their filings.

The University also continued to lobby on research security and international partnerships, citing the Securing Innovation and Research from Adversaries Act.

The University also reported lobbying on the DETERRENT Act, which would expand disclosure requirements for foreign gifts and contracts. The American Council on Higher Education and other higher education groups have spoken out against the act, arguing in a letter to House leaders that it would “broadly curtail important needed international research collaboration and academic and cultural exchanges.”

The University also reported lobbying on spending bills for fiscal year 2027, including the National Defense Authorization Act. The bill failed to advance last week when Senate Democrats blocked a procedural vote to begin formal debate, objecting in part to the Trump administration’s ongoing war in Iran. The House passed its version of the legislation Wednesday.

The disclosures do not indicate whether Harvard supported or opposed the legislation on which it lobbied.

Harvard’s expanded federal advocacy extends beyond its registered lobbying operation. Harvard’s legal fees jumped to $126.6 million in fiscal year 2025, up from roughly $80 million in 2024 and around $20 million in previous years.

Harvard began expanding its lobbying operation after former University president Claudine Gay’s December 2023 congressional testimony, when it began shopping for an external firm. Since then, Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 has met with more than 170 members of Congress, and the University has retained more than a dozen Washington law firms to represent it in federal litigation and advise it on regulatory and other legal matters.

But the expanded campaign has not insulated Harvard from federal pressure. Harvard remains subject to at least 10 federal investigations, is pursuing legal challenges involving 12 federal agencies, and is preparing for an 8 percent endowment tax expected to cost it roughly $200 million annually. Harvard also reported a $113 million deficit in fiscal year 2025, its first since the pandemic.

—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at mblon.50. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.

—Staff writer Graham W. Lee can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @grahamwonlee.