Toyota Motor Corp, facing scrutiny in Congress over safety recalls, is working overdrive to remind lawmakers of its U.S. presence and is getting help from states where it has plants.
The Japanese automaker has boosted lobbying in Washington ahead of two hearings in the House of Representatives during the last week in February and a third in the Senate scheduled for the first week in March.
The company mobilized two dozen workers from plants around the country to visit Capitol Hill this week.
"We want to put a local face on it," Amy Lindsey, who works at Toyota's Princeton, Indiana, assembly plant, said of meetings with lawmakers and staff.
Toyota has gradually built a broad political base in Congress over the years, establishing 10 manufacturing facilities and other operations that employ 33,400 people. Indirect employment, including dealers, accounts for another 160,700 jobs, the company said.
Its operations are located in states with strong ties to both political parties.
It spent $5.2 million last year on lobbying, according to Senate records data cited by the Center for Responsive Politics.
