On September 23, 2009, a new Obama Administration policy was announced on the White House Web site by White House special council on ethics and government, otherwise known as the ‘ethics czar’, Norm Eisen. The new policy that was implemented limits the roles of lobbyists on federal advisory committees and it is sending anger through the offices of K Street.
During the health care debate there have been six lobbyists for the health and pharma industry for every member of Congress. With this kind of muscle it is easy to see why corporations and big business interests have an easier time getting themselves heard than the constituents of elected officials. It doesn’t matter if you are Republican, Democratic or Independent, this many bodies lobbying you all the time can tend to sway your thinking on an issue.
It is said there were actually times during the Bush Administration when lobbyists were allowed to write some of the language in legislation and that they were even allowed on the floor of Congress during debate. It is like lobbying in the past decade or so has gone on steroids. Lately, lobbyists have taken to paying street people to stand in line for them so they can be some of the first into the Capitol when the doors open and they won’t get too hot or too cold or wet. It says something that there are so many of them that they actually have to stand in line. This new policy change can go a long way toward letting the air out of the over pumped lobbyists muscle.
From The Congressional Quarterly:
A tide of anger and dismay is rippling down K Street as the Obama administration implements a new policy limiting the roles of lobbyists on federal advisory committees.
The policy change, described by the White House as the next step in President Barack Obama ’s drive to limit influence-peddling in Washington, could affect hundreds of lobbyists who serve on the panels, which were created by Congress in the 1970s to provide private-sector advice to the government
By removing a key point of access to the administration, many lobbyists will be less useful to their clients, who will be forced to appoint others to take up the slack. And the information about federal government intentions gleaned from committee meetings will now be unavailable to many lobbyists as they strategize on how to work various issues.
“There is fury,” said a lobbyist who sits on one of the committees. “Absolute fury.” K Street veterans say they sit at the intersection of policy wonk-dom, Washington savvy, and the needs of business, and are therefore best suited to populate the panels.
But the White House views the move as a key step in rolling back what officials see as the open-door policy for K Street created in previous years. According to a senior White House official, the panels have been excessively dominated by lobbyists. “It is one of the ways special interests have historically shaped policy to the detriment of the public interest,” he said.
Read the rest of the article here.
Let’s hope that this is just one more in a long line of policy changes that will eliminate the undue influence of lobbying in our government and help level the playing field for ordinary citizens.
The halls of the Capitol,Congressional office buildings and Senate office buildings would be far less busy with a reduction in the number of lobbyists in Washington DC.