I don't love every second of this video detailing the influence of lobbyists on school lunch policy. But fast forward to 3:30 or so, when they begin detailing who's in the room at that hearing. This is one of those quiet ways influence is peddled in Washington: Lobbyists are paid to attend panels that the rest of us don't have time to attend. So the USDA, say, publicly advertises a meeting a school lunch policy, sends an official to detail their thinking, and faces a barrage of industry feedback. They then conclude that industry is really the only one paying attention, and the real cost comes in crossing them.
