On episode 2578 of The Joe Rogan Experience, Calley Means argued that lobbying money shapes food and health policy. Rather than repeat his claims, we went to the public lobbying filings.
Every dollar figure below comes from disclosures filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act and analyzed by OpenSecrets and news outlets. Means's own claims are labeled as his.
One firm, one year: One lobbying firm made $88.1 million.
Ballard Partners reported $88.1 million in federal lobbying revenue for 2025, a record for any federal lobbying firm. It followed with $63.5 million in the first half of 2026.
| Status | Record for any firm |
|---|---|
| First half 2026 | $63.5M |
Source: OpenSecrets; Bloomberg Law
Growth: Revenue up 4.5x in a single year.
That 2025 figure was about 4.5 times its 2024 revenue of $19.3 million, according to a NOTUS analysis of LDA filings. The firm's alumni include White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
| 2024 | $19.3M |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $88.1M |
Source: NOTUS analysis of LDA filings, 2026
The wider boom: Six connected firms, $145M in new clients.
A Sludge analysis of OpenSecrets data found six firms with ties to the administration (Ballard, Miller Strategies, Continental Strategies, CGCN, Checkmate and Michael Best) took $145 million from new clients in 2025.
| Firms | 6 |
|---|---|
| Year | 2025 |
Source: Sludge analysis of OpenSecrets data, Feb 2026
All of K Street: K Street had its biggest year ever.
Across K Street, more than $5 billion was spent on federal lobbying in 2025, the biggest year on record. Anyone can look up a firm or client at opensecrets.org or in the Senate's database at lda.senate.gov.
| Status | A record |
|---|---|
| Check any firm | lda.senate.gov |
Source: OpenSecrets, 2026
Means says: The door spins.
Means says 19 of 20 of his HHS colleagues will lobby for the industries they fought the day they leave government. That is his claim from the episode, not independently verified.
Claim made by Calley Means, JRE #2578 at 1:02:06
The bottom line
You do not need to take anyone's word for it, including ours. The filings are public. Search the company behind your kids' cereal and see who it pays.
The full JRE 2578 series
- Calley Means on Joe Rogan: 8 Numbers, Fact-Checked (JRE 2578)
- Glyphosate in Oats, Chickpeas and Lentils: What the Testing Shows and the Organic Swap That Works
- How Glyphosate Got Legal Immunity in 4 Moves: Roundup Lawsuits After Monsanto v. Durnell
- A US School Day by the Numbers: Sugar, Protein and the USDA School Meal Rules
- The Kids' Metabolic Emergency: Childhood Obesity, Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes Statistics
- Follow the Money: What Public Lobbying Filings Show About 2025's Record Year (you are here)
- What Needs to Happen: 3 System Fixes From Calley Means and 3 Levers You Control
Follow @ninjathletes on Instagram for the full carousel and reels, and find more evidence-based athlete optimization tips at ninjathlete.com.
Sources
- OpenSecrets federal lobbying data, 2025 and 2026. www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying
- NOTUS analysis of Lobbying Disclosure Act filings, 2026.
- Bloomberg Law, first-half 2026 lobbying revenue.
- Sludge analysis of OpenSecrets data, February 2026.
- US Senate Lobbying Disclosure database. lda.senate.gov/
- Calley Means, The Joe Rogan Experience episode 2578, at 1:02:06.
Source episode: The Joe Rogan Experience, episode 2578, with Calley Means. Claims attributed to Calley Means are his and are labeled as such. Photos inside the slides are AI-generated illustrations; the numbers are from the sources listed. This article is educational and is not medical or legal advice.
