Provisions of lobbying restrictions considered underwhelming

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly criticized political Washington as a "swamp" that he would drain. But his pledge to "reinstitute a five-year ban on all executive branch officials lobbying the government for five years after they leave government" and to have Congress enact this ban into law remains largely unfulfilled.

As we noted in 2017, Trump signed an executive order shortly after becoming president that restricted some of the lobbying that White House officials could do after they left his team, but it had caveats. The order only banned White House officials from lobbying their former agency, not from becoming lobbyists. And it didn't expand the definition of what it means to be a lobbyist, a loophole that enables former government officials to pursue lobbying-like activities without technically meeting the definition of being a lobbyist.

Since then, Trump hasn't refined or strengthened the provisions in his executive order, experts who follow lobbying rules say. 

The administration should have articulated "stronger cooling-off standards to ensure (former officials) are not in a position to unduly benefit," said Michael Beckel, research director for Issue One, a group that advocates for transparency and clean government.

Timothy M. LaPira, a James Madison University political scientist and author of "Revolving Door Lobbying: Public Service, Private Interest, and the Unequal Representation of Interests," agreed. "It is not at all clear how, or even if, this 'ban' is enforced," he said.

Meanwhile, the administration has eagerly brought lobbyists to work in government. An October 2019 investigation by ProPublica found that 281 lobbyists have worked in the Trump administration, which works out to one lobbyist for every 14 political appointees. That's four times higher than the rate was under Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, ProPublica found.

In addition, the Associated Press found that in less than three years, Trump named more former lobbyists to Cabinet-level posts than his most recent predecessors did in eight years.

And in July, Politico reported that at least 82 former Trump administration officials have registered as lobbyists, ranging from such well-known figures as deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn and former Florida attorney general and White House adviser Pam Bondi to a host of lesser-known officials from such departments as Commerce, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Transportation.

We rate this a Promise Broken.