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The article reports that U.S. House Administration Committee Chairman Bob Ney, notified Congress on November 4 that he had received a federal grand jury subpoena for records related to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee of alleged improprieties by indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The federal criminal inquiry, however, appears to be accelerating. The spotlight is now on Ney, who received sizable campaign contributions from a tribe that was an Abramoff client, and a lavish trip to Scotland in 2002 that was arranged by the lobbyist.

The article focuses on the post scenario of defense base closure. Lobbyists and consultants say the track record for getting a local facility off the list released last week is not good. During previous rounds, only about 15 percent of bases on the list avoided closure or downsizing. It takes five of nine votes on the Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) panel to remove a base, and the lobbyist said promising a client that any amount of lobbying would get a base off the list is wrong. Sorett, a partner with the government contracting firm of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, has already signed up a number of corporate clients he says are hoping to pick up some of the civilian talent displaced by BRAC. Under his model, Sorett said most of his clients will be business interests, but he said he plans to reach out to all affected communities on the BRAC list within 60 days.

The article reports that many of the 43 senators and House members who left at the end of the 108th Congress are pursuing traditional paths toward careers as lobbyists and lecturers and some are biding their time before running again in future elections, but former Republican Ed Schrock took an unusual route to his next job. The Virginia Republican did not seek re-election but stayed in the Congress anyway — as a staff member. Schrock, who was a staffer before being elected to the U.S. Congress, returned to his roots as staff director for the House Government Reform Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee.

While the U.S. House takes up a package of three health-related bills this week, the U.S. Senate may finally complete work on a corporate tax bill and attempt to send the transportation reauthorization to conference. The House this week also is expected to pass a bill from Representative Pete Sessions, to make permanent the expansion of the 10 percent tax bracket that was a part of the 2001 tax cut law and which expires at the end of this year. After weeks of wrangling, the Senate appears to be in position to pass this week the bill that repeals the foreign sales corporation/extraterritorial income tax break and replaces it with $170 billion in new tax breaks for companies, Senate aides and lobbyists said.

U.S. House Ways and Means chairman Bill Thomas last week gave a group of 200 tax lobbyists, accountants, lawyers and executives a thorough dressing down at the Tax Executives' Institute's mid-year conference. Thomas said the broader business community had allowed a few companies to thwart his proposal for repeal of the foreign sales corporation/extraterritorial income tax regime—which he claimed was the best chance in decades to reduce the tax burden on overseas profits generated by multinational firms.

Focuses on reactions of an organization known as K Street Crowd on the claims made by U.S. House legislators about the legislative agenda of the Grand Old Party (GOP). Selection of employees by the legislators for their own office; Relationship between former GOP Conference chairman and the organization; Views of the legislators on the relationship between U.S. House majority whip Roy Blunt and the organization.

Presents memories of the various lobbyists about September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Experience of Lee Culpepper, senior vice president, government affairs and policy, National Restaurant Association, from the morning of attacks; Memories of Mark Isakowitz, partner, Fierce and Isakowitz of the attacks; Remembrance from Frank O'Donnell, executive director, the Clear Air Trust.

This article reports on the plans of about 70 U.S. manufacturing, services and agribusiness lobbyists to travel to Hong Kong, China for the December 13-18, 2005 meeting of trade ministers. Scott Miller, a representative of the Proctor & Gamble Co., said at a Monday briefing of the American Business Coalition for Doha held at the Business Roundtable, that the coalition had written members of the U.S. Congress, reiterating its desire for an ambitious result in Hong Kong, including a schedule of future negotiations, despite trade ministers' attempts to lower expectations for the meeting.

The article presents information on the political developments in the United States. The legal defense fund for I. Lewis Libby, the former chief of staff to U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney has been indicted in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency leak case. Life insurance lobbyists have come out swinging against the recent recommendation from the President's tax reform panel for three new savings accounts, which the insurers say could undercut their existing products. The Council on Competitiveness, contending that U.S. companies are falling behind competitors overseas, is releasing a survey of 199 senior business executives in the United States showing that less than half are making innovation a priority.

This article reports that Craig Regelbrugge, a lobbyist with the American Nursery and Landscape Association, said that he was eating at an outdoor cafe recently where he overheard three women talking about illegal immigration. He said the first two were the most talkative, while the third kept silent for much of the conversation, until she revealed that she and her husband had owned a farm and cattle that were tended by illegal workers from Mexico. Regelbrugge's association is a member of the Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform and the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, two business groups lobbying for comprehensive immigration overhaul.

This article focuses on efforts of the officials of the U.S. administration under President George W. Bush to combat trade abuses by China. Administration officials and lobbyists for multinational firms went scrambling to Capitol Hill in an attempt to head off a congressional backlash. David Hartquist, counsel to the China Currency Coalition, said that he sees little chance of legislation for the remainder of the session, although individual Senate amendments to unrelated legislation are always a possibility. Treasury Secretary John Snow's visit to Beijing this month has shown few signs of producing commitments for further moves by the Chinese to let the yuan rise in value against the dollar.

This article reports that U.S. House Representative Bob Ney's ties to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, scandals surrounding Ohio's GOP governor and the strong labor element in his district make the six-term Ohio Republican a natural target for Democrats, who have made ethics a central theme of the 2006 election cycle. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Executive Director John Lapp said that reports of Ney's connections to Abramoff, who is under investigation for questionable lobbying practices, is an example of the "pay-to-play politics" in which lobbyists exercise strong influence in the GOP Congress. Lapp said he has confidence in Ney's Democratic opponent, four-term Chillicothe Mayor Joe Sulzer, to campaign on his own merits. A Ney spokesman said that district voters seldom ask about Abramoff and are focused on other issues.

The article reports that scrutiny over the practices of lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates again has put the spotlight on how lobbyists do business in Washington D.C., but advocates of stronger lobbying rules will likely need another high-profile scandal or a much stronger effort before the Congress moves on a comprehensive overhaul. Tom Susman, a partner at the law firm Ropes & Gray, has tracked the history of lobbying regulation, and said reform advocates have work to do before their issue is ripe. The Congress last updated lobbying rules with the 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act.

This article reports that the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee postponed Tuesday's scheduled subcommittee markup of a $400.7 billion FY06 Defense spending measure, and with no leadership commitment to grant floor time for the bill before the August recess, Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran's goal of marking up all 12 Senate spending bills before the break might be in doubt. Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ted Stevens, from Alaska, prevailed upon his committee and GOP leadership to postpone the markup, as he did not want details to leak out for eager lobbyists and the media to pick apart over the recess in advance of a floor vote. The Defense appropriations bill might move swiftly when lawmakers reconvene in September, as it is expected to carry additional funds for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to carry the Pentagon through the first several months of the fiscal year beginning from October 1, until the U.S. Congress approves a new war supplemental.

The article reports that advocates of permanent estate tax repeal are monitoring discussions between U.S. Senator Jon Kyl and Senate Finance ranking member Max Baucus. National Federation of Independent Business and the Farm Bureau are both members of the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition, which consists of about 70 groups pushing for repeal of what they call the death tax. While repeal advocates are pushing for full permanent repeal, one business lobbyist indicated some business groups might accept less than that.

This article reports that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum confirmed it hired Ohio lobbyist William Blair in June 2005 to help the Cleveland-based institution win earmarked funding for its music education programs. By hiring Blair, the museum is tapping a longtime constituent of House Labor-Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ralph Regula, who will have a seat at the table when earmarks are distributed in final House-Senate negotiations over the spending bill. Blair also represents the Association of Public Television Stations, which has millions of dollars at stake in the FY06 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill the House is expected to approve today.

The article reports that the U.S. Senate resumes its perennial energy policy debate, facing many of the same stumbling blocks that held up passage of legislation in the last session. Although Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete Dominici and ranking member Jeff Bingaman, used a bipartisan process to move their new energy bill through committee, lobbyists said many of the traditional pitfalls remain, including expected amendments on climate change, fuel economy standards, renewable fuels, contentious aspects of the electricity title, siting of liquefied natural gas terminals and methyl tertiary-butyl ether contamination.

The article reports that with only three months to go until the independent Base Closure and Realignment Commission submits its recommendations to the White House, many U.S. congressional staffers, lobbyists and analysts are spending the summer sifting through Pentagon information they say is neither well organized nor user friendly. Congressional staffers and lobbyists representing local communities also have voiced frustrations in searching for information pertaining to specific bases. The Pentagon made public much of the information late last month, but has not finished scrubbing all documents for classified information.

The article reports on the announcement by Republican candidate Katherine Harris that she would run against Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in Florida next year. Former National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Bill Paxon of New York, now a lobbyist, touted the likely candidacy of former Sarasota County Republican Chairman Tramm Hudson. Paxon described Hudson, who helped elect Republicans to 41 of 42 county offices last year, as a friend of his and his wife, former Rep. Susan Molinari, who owns a home in the district, said the seat favors Republicans, but acknowledged Democrats could make a credible run.

The article discusses the old days, when if one was not a member of the U.S. Congress one had to have a friend on the House Appropriations Committee staff to know what the committee was doing. Today, thankfully, times have changed. Lobbyists, budget geeks and other interested parties can now follow the appropriations process in great detail, using the Internet. A new Congressional Research Service report demonstrates that Congress has a lousy track record when it comes to passing appropriations bills on time. During those years, Congress passed 259 appropriations bills, with two-thirds of them enacted as single bills and the rest bundled into omnibus measures.

The article informs that for opposite reasons, leaders of both parties on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C., have hurriedly embraced new rules for Washington's least-loved political players--lobbyists. Democrats see lobbying overhaul, at least in part, as a matter of political opportunity. Republicans, by contrast, are motivated by a sense of political danger. Both are responding to fallout from the ethics cases involving U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and lobbyist Jack Abramoff, as well as recent disclosures involving congressional travel.

The article informs that while the timing remains uncertain for congressional votes on the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), new lobbying disclosure reports and interviews suggest ever-growing intensity over the pending trade deal. Sara Lee Branded Apparel, which owns Playtex and Champion, is among the latest to join the push for CAFTA, by hiring Clark Consulting. Florida Crystals, a sugar producer and distributor, last month hired Mehlman Capitol Strategies to represent its interests. Domestic sugar growers have been among the most vociferous opponents of CAFTA. Central American interests have also hired lobbying representation. Lobbying reports show a group of poultry producers in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua last month retained Miller & Chevalier Chartered to represent their interests.

The article reports that Representatives Martin Meehan, Democrat from Massachusetts and Rahm Emanuel, Democrat from Illinois , introduced a bill they said would increase lobbying disclosure, curb travel abuses, slow the "revolving door" and toughen enforcement of lobbying rules. Meehan and Emanuel are proposing to establish an electronic database, require lobbyists to file quarterly rather than semi-annual reports, and require that lobbyists report all their past government jobs. The bill also would double to two years the amount of time a former member or senior administration employee must wait before lobbying.

The article reports that since 1987, the nonprofit Congressional Institute has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars provided by lobbyists and their clients to send lawmakers and their staff to the annual GOP leadership, chief of staff and bicameral retreats. And the Institute has worked with the House and Senate Republican Conferences to set up retreat agendas, develop discussion materials for members and select speakers at the tightly controlled meetings, according to federal campaign finance records and interviews with current and former congressional aides.

The article reports that lobbyists working to protect U.S. military installations from elimination or reshuffling say they are preparing for a new burst of activity in two weeks, when the Pentagon plans to release its base closure and realignment recommendations. Retired Air Force officer John Hall, who lobbies for the Spectrum Group's BRAC clients, said rather than base closures, most BRAC recommendations will be realignments aimed at efficiencies and sharing functions among branches. Still, he said, it pays for localities to take steps to protect their installations.

The article focuses on a forum of lobbyists on how much lobbyists should charge for their work and how they should be paid. The discussion at times drifted into the practices of GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under investigation for collecting millions of dollars in lobbying fees from six American Indian tribes. Wright Andrews, an attorney and lobbyist who served on the panel, said some of Washington's lobbyists have great influence and can set up a meeting or sway a vote just by making a phone call. Attorney and lobbyist Tom Susman, who chairs the American League of Lobbyists ethics committee, said at the federal level there are relatively few limits on lobbyists accepting contingency fees or a "success bonus."

The article reports on the political situation in the United States. The fall of the gavel will soon precede the crack of the bat, as members of Congress, lobbyists and staffers rush from final votes on Capitol Hill to RFK Stadium for baseball's return to Washington. Fundraisers and lobbyists say the relocation of the former Montreal Expos to Washington will make it easier for their clients to schmooze with lawmakers than at Orioles' games in Baltimore. Republican fundraiser Carolyn Machado said she booked a suite for a Hayes event at the Nationals' second home game April 16, when Washington hosts the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The article reports that U.S. House and Senate Republicans are ready to roll with a plan to protect tax cuts totaling over 100 billion dollar in budget reconciliation procedures, despite persistent opposition to that plan from Senate budget chairman, GOP aides and lobbyists. Senators have argued privately to Senate leaders that because none of the tax cut proposals in the 2005 White House budget proposal concern provisions that expire this year, there might be no need to use reconciliation to protect tax cuts at all.

The article reports that the U.S. Senate is likely to act on a legislation to overhaul the nation's bankruptcy laws in the United States. Lobbyists representing credit card companies and other lenders contend the need for the bill is as urgent as it was when the U.S. Congress first tried to enact bankruptcy abuse legislation eight years ago. Coalition members are urging the Senate to pass Finance Chairman Charles E. Grassley's bipartisan bill requiring people who have the means to pay debts to make repayment plans rather than having their debts canceled under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code.

This article reports that with federal spending reaching record levels, lawmakers in the U.S. are looking to trim, cut back, pare, or give a haircut to the federal budget and the sprawling domestic programs it funds. Healthcare lobbyists are anxiously awaiting U.S. President George W. Bush's FY06 budget blueprint, which lands with a thud on congressional desks during the first week of February 2005. With the president vowing to halve the federal deficit in five years while retaining popular tax cuts and undertake a fundamental overhaul of the Social Security program that is expected to cost trillions of dollars, the hacking away at Medicare is looking more and more likely.

The article reports that the U.S. entertainment and software industry has successfully lobbied to the federal administration for the creation of a post for a coordinator for international intellectual property enforcement. The U.S. president will appoint the coordinator. The decision appears to be the result of a compromise between industry desires and the insistence of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Chairman that the industry make better use of the resources of the country's National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council.

The article reports that for more than a year, bills seeking to crack down on a rising number of vendors who dodge state taxes by selling tobacco products illegally over the Internet have attracted popular bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress House and Senate. But as the 108th Congress nears an end, bills everyone seems to love appear destined for the legislative graveyard, thanks to the influence of well-connected lobbyists and others concerned about the sweeping nature of those measures. A bill by Representative Mark Green, Republican-Wisconsin, that would strengthen state power to enforce tobacco tax laws, restore billions of dollars in lost revenue and help to keep cigarettes out of the hands of minors, won overwhelming approval from the House Judiciary Committee in January.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader William Frist is unlikely to schedule floor consideration of a bipartisan bill to block the Financial Accounting Standards Board's proposed stock options expensing rule before Congress adjourns, a spokeswoman said Thursday. Industry supporters are "looking at all of the legislative possibilities and all available vehicles, including in any lame duck session which may occur after the election," said Jeffrey Peck, the International Employee Stock Options Coalition's chief lobbyist.

The movie industry's top lobbyist Thursday urged lawmakers to oppose a bill that would legalize technology allowing viewers to filter out from movies any violence, sex or other material they find objectionable. Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti told the House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee that the bill would harm the creative rights of directors and interfere with negotiations with the technology's makers. While agreeing with the bill's goal of trying to shield children from objectionable material, Valenti said the bill already is having a negative effect on negotiations between movie directors and ClearPlay, a company that sells a DVD player with the filtering technology.

As Election Day nears, Democratic lawmakers are increasingly keen on reducing the number of U.S. jobs outsourced overseas, a phenomenon that could spark a renewed push from defense industrial base protectionists seeking to stem the flow of taxpayer money spent on foreign military products and services. If so-called "Buy American" legislation introduced last week in both chambers is any indication, lawmakers and lobbyists can expect to wrestle with the issue in the months ahead. In the House last week, a measure introduced by Representative Bernard Sanders and 50 co-sponsors could adversely affect defense trade, according to analysts. The bill, the "Defending American Jobs Act of 2004," seeks to prevent companies from receiving federal grants, loans and loan guarantees if they lay off a greater percentage of workers in the U.S. than they lay off in other countries.

Amid the sobering polls and the bleak headlines on Iraq, a few U.S. GOP lobbyists are afraid of the contestant for Presidential candidate Howard Dean chasing them around Capitol Hill. "Business groups are followers, not leaders," said one GOP lobbyist. "I hope the White House isn't comforted that they're raising tons of money, or that they may get to face a weak opponent in Howard Dean." Questions about the President's ability to dominate the public discourse largely dissipated after Sept. 11, 2001.

The U.S. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is quietly making inroads into traditionally Republican corners of K Street, hosting a series of meetings designed to convince various industry lobbyists that Democrats share portions of their agendas. The sessions are mostly held in the morning in the Fairchild Building on the House side of Capitol Hill. According to the DCCC spokeswoman, lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry, which contributes heavily to Republicans, discussed efforts supported by Democrats to increase funding for research and development.

In an effort to combat the perception that K Street belongs exclusively to Republicans, a handful of the U.S. Senate Democrats are reaching out to Democratic aides who have become lobbyists, seeking advice on how better to promote their common policy goals and get more Democrats elected. Lobbyist, David Castagnetti said the group is useful because lobbyists are briefed on what Senate Democrats are working on and what issues are shaping up on the floor, and the lobbyists offer suggestions about how senators can improve their approach.

Industry and union supporters of the United States House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Bill Young's $375 billion transportation reauthorization plan are making a renewed push to win support for the proposal to pay for the package through an increase in the gas tax. The Transportation Coalition comprises trade unions, road builders and other transportation interests. The coalition is also running daily advertisements in area publications. While all sides of the debate favor an increase in federal spending, the continuing gridlock on how to fund such a boost has significantly slowed progress in the House and Senate.

The article reports thatU.S. President George W. Bush will use a policy litmus test in making his decision on a replacement of ongoing EPA Administrator lobbyists. According to sources Bush and his White House advisers likely will have an eye for candidates who will maintain the administration's policy positions and actively advance Bush's environmental agenda.Struhs, who in addition to being related through marriage to White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, also was one of Bush's environmental advisers during the 2000 election and was considered one of the top contenders for the EPA job.Other possible candidates for promotion include EPA air chief Jeffrey Holmstead, who is rumored to have some backers within the White House, water chief Tracy Mehan and White House Council On Environmental Quality Chairman James Connaughton.

The article reports that three U.S. judge federal panel's recent campaign finance ruling is made a vast store of controversial sealed documents public.The documents, including reams of sensitive, internal memos from top party officials and lobbyists.The court case challenging the new election law, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, generated a mammoth legal record running 100,000 pages. The record also includes plenty of testimony from party leaders about the working of restriction on soft money, and from interest groups about how the issue ad restrictions would squelch free speech.

Focuses on the criticism of U.S. President George W. Bush's tax cut package by lobbyist in the United States. Rationale behind the meeting of a bipartisan group of Senators outside the office of Senator Olympia Snowe; Opinion expressed by president of the Business Roundtable John Castellani on the political activities over budget resolution; Lobbying efforts pursued by business groups to gather support of Senators.

Focuses on congressional aides supporting Majority and Minority leaders in the 108th U.S. Congress. Lobbyists who have extended support for House Majority leader Tom DeLay; Aides working for National Audubon Society which supports House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi; Other Legislators who have aides supporting them.

Reports that U.S. business lobbyists are looking for openings and opportunities in U.S. President George W. Bush's proposed economic plan of a multi-billion dollar tax cut package. Elimination of individual taxes on dividends in the proposed economic plan; Public support by business groups to the economic plan despite little or no gain from it; Reasons for skepticism shown by technology companies towards the plan.

Reports that members of the American League of Lobbyists are open to undergo background checks to get freedom in the Capitol Hill, Washington (D.C.) area due to restricted access following September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Lobbyists' complaints regarding security measures in the Capitol Hill area; Other demands of lobbyists; Problems related to traveling between the U.S. House and Senate.

Reports that General Electric Co. is looking for a vice president, corporate government affairs to lead its advocacy agenda for Washington lobbying shop. Corporate profile of GE; Previous chief lobbyist of GE; Possibilities of naming White House Legislative Affairs Director Nicholas Calio for the job; Calio's comments over the issue; Talent hunt conducted by executive search firm Spencer Stuart.

Presents the pending legislation based on the demands of the lobbyists in the U.S. Plan of business and insurance lobbyists for federal legal reform legislation; Scheme of the Republicans for liability over terrorism reinsurance; Agreement of the lobbyists for class-action reform legislation.

Reports the modification of the investor protection provision of the trade bill in the U.S. Clarification of the rights of foreign investors; Expiration of the Andean Trade Preference Act; Response of union lobbyists on the investor protection.

Reports on allegations by the conservative Heritage Foundation on lobbyists for their excessive pork-barrell spending in spite of their statements on evils of earmarks. Services provided by lobbyists in the U.S.; Overstatements by some lobbying firms about their earmarking abilities; Stated payments to the lobbyists for their services.

Focuses on the response of the business lobbyists to the $75 billion economic stimulus plan in the United States. Move of the president regarding the economic stimulus plan; Measurement of economic activity from different trade groups; Identification of balance between consumer and investment sides.