The most talked about Fortune 100 company in Congress
Apple may be the first publicly traded U.S. company to hit $1 trillion in terms of market value, but the iPhone maker isn't on lawmakers' lips nearly as much as another Fortune 100 company. That prize goes to Facebook, according to an analysis of a decade's worth of congressional news releases, floor statements and media posts.
Data analytics firm Quorum counted 14,016 mentions of the social media company -- 6,861 by Democrats and 7,155 by Republicans -- by members of Congress since 2008. Of late, much of the discussion presumably centered on Facebrook's data privacy scandal.
That was twice as much as Google-parent Alphabet, which had 5,948 mentions, nearly equally divided by party. Rounding out the top five: Ford, Boeing and General Motors. Boeing drew significantly more discussion among Republicans, while GM was a more popular discussion point for Democrats.
Apple was No. 6 list, getting more than 2,000 mentions over a decade, just edging out Walmart, with home loan giant Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rounding off the top 10.
Among other frequently cited companies, Wells Fargo was invoked by Democrats far more than by Republicans, bringing Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren's wrath for the bank's fraudulent practices to mind.
That said, when it comes to Fortune 100 companies, the most vocal member of Congress is Vermont's Bernie Sanders, an Independent who mentioned financial firms most of all. He was followed by Rep. Billy Long, a Missouri Republican who focused primarily on energy and technology companies.
