Proposed lobbying restrictions upset business groups
WASHINGTON -- Business groups are slamming the Obama administration over a plan that would bar lobbyists and their employers from giving gifts to federal employees — including picking up the tab for government workers to attend conferences and trade shows.
The proposal is aimed at preventing lobbyists from exerting undue influence over executive branch employees charged with regulating everything from automobile safety to air quality, but trade groups have launched an all-out offensive to kill the proposal.
The Office of Government Ethics recently extended the period for public input to mid-December after receiving a flood of comments about the plan.
"It's a slap in the face of business from an administration that says it wants to work with industry to create more jobs," said John Graham, president and CEO of the American Society of Association Executives, which represents about 23,000 trade-group executives.
Graham's organization has launched a website, along with Twitter and Facebook campaigns, to fight the measure.
More than 450 groups have signed onto the organization's letter of protest, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Realtors.
The move to restrict lobbyist gift-giving comes amid a separate push by the administration to trim costs.
Earlier this month, Obama signed an executive order directing federal agencies to reduce travel, slash spending on promotional gear and cut back on the number of cellphones and laptops.
Joe McInerney, the president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, called the measures "anti-business" and said they would hurt hotels working to rebound from a sluggish economy. Attending industry conferences gives government officials the chance to "learn what the problems of industry are," he said.
Obama set in motion the rules change during his first week in the White House, when he signed an executive order banning his appointees from receiving any gifts from lobbyists. He also asked the Office of Government Ethics to find ways to apply the ban to all executive branch employees.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the proposal "will be subject to changes" based on feedback. "We don't want to prejudge the process."
Current rules impose some limits on gifts to executive branch employees. But there are exceptions, including a provision that allows free admission to "widely attended" events, such as conferences, trade shows and Capitol Hill receptions if "attendance is in the interest of the agency."
The proposal would ban federal employees from accepting free tickets to trade-industry functions unless they are speaking at the event. Colleges and universities, media organizations, scientific groups and nonprofit professional associations are exempted.
That infuriates some trade groups officials, who argue their conferences also provide educational benefits.
"To slap business with a carve-out that says, 'You are worse than everybody else' is outrageous," Graham said.
Government watchdog groups support the proposed rules, and some are urging the administration to go even further and expand the ban to other nonprofits. "It's a move in the right direction," said Craig Holman of Public Citizen.
