Here is Tuesday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Lobbying

• Religious advocacy groups have expanded rapidly over the past 40 years, according to a new report by the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life. These groups spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year lobbying for issues like school vouchers, immigration, and abortion. (Washington Post)
• South Korean auto makers accelerated their lobbying activity over the past few years. Meanwhile, American, German, and Japanese companies have tapped the breaks on their government affairs spending. (Politico)
• The failure of the Super Committee might provide a boost in business to Washington's lobbyists. The automatic cuts triggered by the committee's failure won't start until 2013, giving lobbyists plenty of time to fight them. Meanwhile, a number of programs that may have been included in a Super Committee plan will have to be dealt with in the coming months. (The Hill)

Here is the short week's first look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Government

• The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is teaming up with the Small Business Administration to streamline and improve the quality of small business contracting data. (Federal Computer Week)
• 20 major companies that have spent over $1 billion lobbying for a repatriation tax holiday stand to make a 14,000 percent return on their investment if the measure is approved. (National Journal)
• Congress is teaming up with Facebook developers for the first ever Congressional Facebook Developer Hackathon. The event aims to examine how social media can interact with legislative data and constituent communications. (National Journal)