Controversy still surrounds the rules covering executive branch hiring and former lobbyists who now work in the Obama administration. Three new U.S. Attorney nominations have been made including former Business Software Alliance lobbyist and aide to Vice President Joe Biden, Neil MacBride, for the Eastern District of Virignia. Reportedly, a waiver is not needed in this case.

According to The Hill, the Treasury Department is waiting for the administration's approval before finalizing restrictions on lobbying for Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funding, only ten months after the program began.

Roll Call ($$) reports that the House ethics committee is looking into connections between earmarks and campaign contributions. The investigation will likely come across a roadblock; documentation may have been destroyed on earmark requests before 2007.

USA Today reports that regardless of the gift ban under the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA), signed into law in 2007, lobbyists continue to spend a vast amount of money to honor members of Congress or donate to nonprofits connected to them. The law requires lobbyists and entities that employ lobbyists to report payments to events or groups associated with legislators or top federal officials.