Public Affairs Council President Doug Pinkham sent the following letter to Council members following the White House announcement that it has revised its lobbying restrictions following a 60-day public comment period.   

Update on Federal Lobbying Restrictions
June 2, 2009

The White House has revised its Recovery Act lobbying rules so that restrictions  on oral communications with federal officials about economic stimulus projects will apply to everyone, not just federally registered lobbyists. In addition, these restrictions will apply only to the period after competitive grant applications are submitted and before awards are made.

However, the revised rules still require officials to use a cumbersome process to document all meetings and phone calls about stimulus projects with registered lobbyists that occur at other times.

These changes, which were announced last Friday on the White House blog, came following a 60-day review period in which numerous organizations - including business groups, political reform groups, non-profits and labor unions - contested the constitutionality of the administration's original policy. In comments submitted last month, the Public Affairs Council said the policy would also reduce transparency and accountability for stimulus spending. Final guidance on implementation of the new policy will come from the Office of Management and Budget in the near future.

The Good News
The new policy would require a much broader group of potential influencers - including lawyers, consultants, members of Congress, and corporate and non-profit executives - to submit comments about specific projects in writing. It's noteworthy that White House Special Counsel Norm Eisen said the administration took this step because of the "unique circumstances of the stimulus program" (which would indicate that no additional communication bans are planned).

While restricting all oral communication could reduce the flow of information between organizations proposing projects and federal agencies, the new policy would only apply to the period after competitive grant applications are submitted. According to news reports, only about $60 billion of the $787 billion that will be spent on stimulus is subject to a competitive grant process. That means that meetings and conversations with federal officials will be permitted to discuss grants for the bulk of the Recovery Act funds.

Importantly, Eisen also said that conversations initiated by an agency official - either before or after a competitive grant application is made - would not need to be in writing.

Unresolved Issues
Some Recovery Act grant deadlines have already passed and others are coming up soon. This will make it more difficult for organizations and municipalities that are counting on meeting with officials after competitive grant applications have been submitted to make their case for funding.

A second problematic aspect of the revised policy is that it would continue to require federal officials to fill out forms detailing all meetings and conversations with registered lobbyists before grant applications are submitted. This policy singles out lobbyists for scrutiny when others have much greater power to influence. As evidenced by the fact that very few lobbyist-meeting-forms have been posted by agencies to date, it's likely that the administration has created a disincentive for officials to talk with registered lobbyists.

Doug

Douglas G. Pinkham
President, Public Affairs Council
2033 K Street, NW, suite 700
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 721-0900 (ph)
(202) 835-8343 (fax)
dpinkham@pac.org