From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The drug industry, already the biggest-spending lobby in Washington, is placing an even bigger bet on the influence game," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Potential windfalls and pitfalls in the expected overhaul of the health-care system have energized drug companies, which spent $47.4 million on lobbying in the first three months of 2009. That is up 36% from the first quarter of 2008, according to company disclosure reports filed with Congress and analyzed by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics."

• "A breakaway group of homebuilders is mounting its own lobbying campaign -- and working around the powerful National Association of Home Builders -- to secure passage of a tax provision that would help its members write off billions of dollars in losses," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The new entity, the Homes for America Alliance, includes about 75 big and small builders."