Tech giants Facebook and Google hit new records for spending on lobbying in the second quarter, as both companies continue to increase their Capitol Hill footprint ahead of the 2012 presidential elections.

According to Reuters, Google spent $3.92 million on federal lobbying during the second quarter, which means a 90 percent increase over its spending during the same period last year. Meanwhile, social networking giant Facebook ramped up its lobbying efforts as well, and increased its spending by 200 percent over the year, spending $960,000 last quarter compared to the $320,000 it spent during the same period last year.

Google's expenses were mostly dedicated to lobbying officials at the FCC, the Department of Commerce, and the FTC, which has riled up the company over recent privacy issues. Public records released on Friday, July 20, show the search giant focused its efforts on issues such as "openness and competition in online services," "mobile location and privacy issues," as well as "broadband adoption and deployment." Google's filing also mentioned the Department of Transportation, under a section including "autonomous vehicle technology."

Meanwhile, Facebook has spent less than $1 milli9on on lobbying during the quarter, but has already gone beyond the $1.35 million it spent during all of 2011. After facing criticism earlier this year over its support of CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act), Facebook devoted much of its lobbying funds to various issues, including online privacy, cyber security, patent reform, immigration reform, and vaguely-outlined "market structure and IPO issues."

"Our presence and growth in Washington reflect our commitment to explaining how our service works, the actions we take to protect more than 900 million people who use our service, the importance of preserving an open Internet, and the value of innovation to our economy," said Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes.

Facebook's spending places the social networking company ahead of competitors such as Amazon and Apple, which spent $690,000 and $470,000, respectively, during the second quarter. Google's even more impressive efforts now place the search giant on par with heavy players such as AT&T, which spent $3.5 million, Verizon, which spent $3.94 million, and Microsoft, which spent $2 million. Google's spending during the second quarter was also considerably higher than many other large tech companies such as IBM, Oracle, and Apple.