Contacting Members of Congress

Legal Opinion: GMP-0029

Index: 6.600, 6.645

Subject: Contacting Members of Congress

December 6, 1991

MEMORANDUM FOR: ALL OGC EMPLOYEES

FROM: Frank Keating, General Counsel, G

SUBJECT: Contacting Members of Congress

At our last brown bag lunch, some of you have expressed an

interest in contacting your Congressional representative, or

other Members of Congress, regarding Congressional actions

important to you. I asked the Office of Equal Opportunity and

Administrative Law to examine this issue and provide you with

guidance as to appropriate communication with Members of

Congress. The purpose of this memorandum is to identify relevant

statutes and restrictions governing contact with Members of

Congress given your status as Federal employees.

Under existing laws and authorities, Federal employees are

permitted to communicate with Members of Congress regarding

matters of general interest or specific concerns of the employee.

This includes expression of personal opinions regarding political

and/or policy issues. Employees may also participate with or

assist their collective bargaining representatives regarding

communications with the Congress. It is significant to note,

however, that these actions must be made in your individual or

personal capacity and not in your official capacity with the

Agency.

There are specific statutory limitations regarding official

contact with Members of Congress. Additionally, the Hatch Act

prescribes certain legal prohibitions on political actions and

activities in which Federal employees may engage. This

memorandum also identifies relevant sections of the Department\'s

Standards of Conduct regulations.

Under the \"anti-lobbying\" law, 18 U.S.C. 1913, only

authorized employees of the Department may communicate with

Members of Congress to solicit support for HUD or the

Administration\'s legislative programs. Authorized employees are

designated by the Secretary, or have, as a part of their official

duties and position description, the responsibility to engage in

these communications in an official capacity.

Employees who have not been so designated, or those who are

not performing in an official capacity, may not represent to a

Member of Congress that they are speaking on behalf of the

Agency. The \"anti-lobbying\" law prohibits unauthorized employees

from using appropriated funds, directly or indirectly, to pay for

\"any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone,

letter, printed or written matter or other device\" to influence a

Member of Congress on any pending or potential legislation.

Instead, when communicating an individual or personal concern, it

should be made explicitly clear that you are communicating in

your individual capacity and not as a representative of the

Department. In addition, individual or personal communications,

whether oral or written, must not be made on official time. Use

of Agency property and equipment is not permitted.

You should also note that the \"anti-lobbying\" law prohibits

unauthorized Federal employees from assisting or soliciting the

general public to lobby respective Members of Congress to support

or oppose potential legislation. Specifically, while in the

performance of your official duties, you should not suggest in a

private conversation, speech or written correspondence, that any

person, group or organization call or write to a Member of

Congress regarding legislative proposals on behalf of the

Department.

A second relevant authority, the Hatch Act, 5 U.S.C. 731

et. seq., limits the type of political activity in which Federal

employees may engage. Under this Act, Federal employees are

prohibited from making political endorsements or from

participating in partisan elections. The Hatch Act also contains

certain restrictions regarding your communication with Members of

Congress. For example, Federal employees may not prepare any

material for Members of Congress that will be used expressly for

partisan political purposes or activity. Additionally, Federal

employees cannot actively campaign or solicit votes for or

against a Member of Congress. The Hatch Act also prohibits

endorsements in political advertisements.

Finally, you should note that the Department\'s Standards

of Conduct regulations, at 24 CFR 0.735-201 and 0.735-206,

prohibit employees from using information obtained in their

official position for their own, or someone else\'s, private gain.

These regulations also prohibit disclosure of official

information not generally available to the public, such as any

proposed legislative or regulatory text, or related preamble,

except when explicitly authorized by the Secretary or the General

Counsel.

I urge each of you to examine closely the laws and

authorities identified in order to become familiar with

permissible and appropriate contact with Congress. Questions

regarding these matters should be directed to Judy Keeler, Deputy

Assistant General Counsel for Personnel and Ethics Law at

708-2205 (FTS 458-2205) or Sam Hutchinson, Assistant General

Counsel for Personnel and Ethics Law at 708-2088 (FTS 458-2088).