WASHINGTON – Business groups are slamming the Obama administration over a plan that would bar lobbyists and their employers from giving gifts to federal employees — including picking up the tab for government workers to attend conferences and trade shows.
The proposal is aimed at preventing lobbyists from exerting undue influence over executive branch employees charged with regulating everything from automobile safety to air quality, but trade groups have launched an all-out offensive to kill the proposal. The Office of Government Ethics recently extended the period for public input to mid-December after receiving a flood of comments about the plan.
"It's a slap in the face of business from an administration that says it wants to work with industry to create more jobs," said John Graham, president and CEO of the American Society of Association Executives. The organization has launched a website, along with Twitter and Facebook campaigns, to fight the measure.
Joe McInerney, the president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, called the measures "anti-business" and said they would hurt hotels working to rebound from a sluggish economy. Attending industry conferences gives government officials the chance to "learn what the problems of industry are," he said.
Courtesy of USAToday.com
