Bans on outside-funded meals, gifts and travel, expected to blow through the Democratically controlled House of Representatives at the start of the new congressional session this week, could focus lobbyists more sharply on campaign events and nudge some organizations towards the edge of the circle of influence.
The bans are just part of a larger package of legislation and changes to House rules being crafted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The Democratic leadership may also create a panel to study enforcing the new rules with an outside organization, require disclosure of earmarks and explicitly forbid the sort of pro-party strong-arm tactics associated with the K Street project.
Under that project Republican leaders pushed hard for associations to hire Republican job candidates, sometimes threatening political retaliation against those that hired Democrats.
The shift in rules, say some experts, could wind up making campaign events some of the few venues outside of office visits where lobbyists have a chance to interact with members and staff — making such events more important and potentially more frequent and expensive.
That could put some nonprofits, which are not allowed to have the political action committees able to afford such events, at a something of a disadvantage.
To help these organizations some exceptions to the rules are being weighed, say insiders, including allowing short trips — that is one-day/one-night travel — to enable Congressional members or staff to give speeches at meetings. Some kinds of travel might be exempted altogether.
“There is talk about having an exception to the travel ban for [nonprofits],” said Jim Clarke, senior vice president for public policy at the American Society of Association Executives.
What is not clear, according to industry insiders who asked not to be named, is how far the changes could go.
Concern over the loophole campaign events create could open the door to looking at changes to campaign finance laws to two well-connected sources told The Examiner.
So far though, everyone is still just guessing.
“We’re not quite sure what it is they are going to be voting on,” said Clarke.
Dee Ann Divis is the business editor of The Washington Examiner. Contact her at [email protected]
