{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sensenbrenner.house.gov/2017/12/poll-bipartisan-majorities-support-restrictions-on-lobbying-by-former-government-officials", "Poll: Bipartisan majorities support restrictions on lobbying by former government officials", "2017-12-13", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "WI", "F. Sensenbrenner", "S000244", "sensenbrenner.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Augusta Free Press\r\nOverwhelming bipartisan majorities support proposed legislation that calls for extending the period that former government officials must wait before they can lobby the government and prohibiting former executive branch officials from ever lobbying on behalf of foreign governments.\r\nSimilarly large majorities favor ending the support the government currently provides for former U.S. presidents.\r\nThe\u00a0survey\u00a0of 2,482 registered voter was conducted by the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland, and released Tuesday by the non-partisan organization, Voice of the People. To ensure that respondents understood the issue, they were given a short briefing on the proposal and asked to evaluate arguments for and against.\r\nThe content was reviewed by congressional proponents and opponents of the legislation to ensure that the briefing was accurate and balanced and that the arguments presented were the strongest ones being made.\r\nCurrently, former Members of Congress are prohibited from lobbying Congress for two years after leaving office. Proposed legislation H.R. 383 by Rep. Posey [R-FL-8], H.R. 796 by Rep. DeSantis [R-FL-6], H.R. 1951 by Rep. O\u2019Halleran [D-AZ-1] and H.R. 346 by Rep. Trott [R-MI-11] calls for extending this period to five years.\u00a0 In the survey, 77 percent approved of such an extension, including 80% of Republicans and 73% of Democrats.\r\nExtending the waiting period for senior congressional staffers from the current one year to two years\u2014as called for in H.R. 383 by Rep. Posey [R-FL-8]\u2014was approved by 77%, including 79% of Republicans and 74% of Democrats.\r\nCurrently, senior executive branch officials are prohibited from lobbying their former agency for 1-2 years depending on how senior they were. H.R. 1934 proposed by Rep. Gallagher [R-WI-8], S.522 by Sen. Tester [D-MT], H.R. 796 by Rep. De Santis [R-FL-6] and H.R. 484 by Rep. De Fazio [D-OR-4] call for extending this period to five years for all such officials.\u00a0 This proposal was supported by 75%, including 77% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats.\r\n\u201cThe American public seems to be eager to drain the swamp in Washington,\u201d commented Steven Kull, director of PPC.\r\nHowever, support did not go so far as to call for a lifetime ban on former members of Congress lobbying as called for by S.1189 by Sen. Bennet [D-CO] and H.R 4187 by Rep. Hollingsworth [R-IN-9]. Only 29% of respondents supported it, including 33% of Republicans and 24% of Democrats.\r\nCurrently, Americans can act as lobbyists for foreign governments, provided they register and report their activities to the U.S. government.\u00a0 Senior executive branch officials are only limited by the 1-2 year restriction for lobbying their former agency.\u00a0 Proposed bills H.R. 796 by Rep.DeSantis [R-FL-6] and H.R. 484 by Rep. De Fazio [D-OR-4] prohibit former senior executive branch officials from any lobbying on behalf of a foreign government for the rest of their life.\r\nThis proposal was favored by 75%, including 81% of Republicans and 70% of Democrats.\r\nThe Trump administration has required political appointees in its administration to pledge to not lobby their former agency for five years and to never lobby the US government for a foreign government after they leave office.\r\nThe sample is large enough to enable analysis of attitudes in very Republican and very Democratic districts (based on Cook PVI ratings of the district the respondents live in).\u00a0 In all cases, red districts were just slightly more supportive of the proposed restrictions.\r\nAnother set of questions presented a proposal to end the financial support for former U.S. presidents, as called for in H.R. 2298 sponsored by Rep. Sensenbrenner [R-WI-5].\u00a0 Currently, former U.S. presidents get financial support to cover the ongoing costs associated with the activities of being a former president, including office space, staffing and travel.\u00a0 In 2017, the government will spend approximately $4 million in support for the four former U.S. presidents.\r\nSeventy-two percent favored the proposal, including 85% of Republicans and 60% of Democrats.\u00a0 In very red districts 77% favored the proposal and in very blue districts 61% favored it.\r\nThe survey was conducted online from September 7- October 3, 2017 with a national probability-based sample of 2,482 registered voters, provided by Nielsen Scarborough from Nielsen Scarborough\u2019s sample of respondents, who were recruited by mail and telephone using a random sample of households. The margin of error was +/- 2.0%.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://sensenbrenner.house.gov/2017/12/poll-bipartisan-majorities-support-restrictions-on-lobbying-by-former-government-officials"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0979571379721165, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}