II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1617

To amend title 31, United States Code, to prohibit the use of appropriated

funds by Federal agencies for lobbying activities.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 14 (legislative day, MARCH 13), 1996

Mr. STEVENS (for himself and Mr. THOMAS) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To amend title 31, United States Code, to prohibit the use

of appropriated funds by Federal agencies for lobbying

activities.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Agency Anti5 Lobbying Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

8 (1) Federal agency employees have used appro9 priated funds to foster public support and opposition

10 to legislation pending before the Congress;
2

•S 1617 IS

1 (2) there are conflicting interpretations of the

2 existing anti-lobbying restrictions; and

3 (3) the use of appropriated funds derived from

4 tax revenues paid to the Treasury by all Americans

5 to preferentially support or oppose pending legisla6 tion is inappropriate and improper.

7 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to estab8 lish a civil prohibition on the expenditure of appropriated

9 funds by Federal agencies for lobbying purposes and to

10 make clear that such funds may not be used in any man11 ner or in any amount, however small, to organize efforts

12 to affect the outcome of congressional action by appealing

13 directly or indirectly for public support.

14 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS

15 FOR LOBBYING BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 13 of

17 title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the

18 end the following new section:

19 ‘‘§ 1354. Prohibition on lobbying by Federal agencies

20 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in sub21 section (b), until or unless such activity has been specifi22 cally authorized by an Act of Congress and notwithstand23 ing any other provision of law, no funds made available

24 to any Federal agency by appropriation shall be used by

25 such agency for any activity (including the preparation,
3

•S 1617 IS

1 publication, distribution, or use of any kit, pamphlet,

2 booklet, public presentation, news release, radio, tele3 vision, or film presentation, video, or other written or oral

4 statement) that is intended to promote public support or

5 opposition to any legislative proposal (including the con6 firmation of the nomination of a public official or the rati7 fication of a treaty) on which congressional action is not

8 complete.

9 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—

10 ‘‘(1) PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT.—Sub11 section (a) shall not apply to the President or Vice

12 President.

13 ‘‘(2) CONGRESSIONAL COMMUNICATIONS.—Sub14 section (a) shall not be construed to prevent any of15 ficer or employee of a Federal agency from—

16 ‘‘(A) communicating directly to a Member

17 of Congress (or to any staff of a Member or

18 committee of Congress) a request for legislation

19 or appropriations that such officer or employee

20 deems necessary for the efficient conduct of the

21 public business; or

22 ‘‘(B) responding to a request for informa23 tion or technical assistance made by a Member

24 of Congress (or by any staff of a Member or

25 committee of Congress).
4

•S 1617 IS

1 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS ON VIEWS OF

2 PRESIDENT.—Subsection (a) shall not be construed

3 to prevent any Federal agency official whose ap4 pointment is confirmed by the Senate, any official in

5 the Executive Office of the President directly ap6 pointed by the President or Vice President, or the

7 head of any Federal agency described in subsection

8 (d)(2), from communicating with the American pub9 lic, through radio, television, or other public commu10 nication media, on the views of the President for or

11 against any pending legislative proposal. The preced12 ing sentence shall not permit any such official to del13 egate to another person the authority to make com14 munications subject to the exemption provided by

15 such sentence.

16 ‘‘(c) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—

17 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANCE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL.—In

18 exercising the authority provided in section 712, as

19 applied to this section, the Comptroller General may

20 obtain, without reimbursement from the Comptroller

21 General, the assistance of the Inspector General

22 within whose Federal agency activity prohibited by

23 subsection (a) of this section is under review.

24 ‘‘(2) EVALUATION.—One year after the date of

25 the enactment of this section, the Comptroller Gen-
5

•S 1617 IS

1 eral shall report to the Committee on Government

2 Reform and Oversight of the House of Representa3 tives and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of

4 the Senate on the implementation of this section.

5 ‘‘(3) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Comptroller Gen6 eral shall, in the annual report under section 719(a),

7 include summaries of investigations undertaken by

8 the Comptroller General with respect to subsection

9 (a).

10 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

11 term ‘Federal agency’ means—

12 ‘‘(1) any executive agency, within the meaning

13 of section 105 of title 5; and

14 ‘‘(2) any private corporation created by a law of

15 the United States for which the Congress appro16 priates funds.’’.

17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec18 tions for chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is

19 amended by inserting after the item relating to section

20 1353 the following new item:

‘‘1354. Prohibition on lobbying by Federal agencies.’’.

21 (c) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this

22 section shall apply to the use of funds after the date of

23 the enactment of this Act, including funds appropriated

24 or received on or before such date.

Æ