In a blog post on May 29, Norm Eisen, Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform, announced changes to President Obama's March 20 memorandum that placed restrictions on communications between federally registered lobbyists and executive branch employees regarding the use of Recovery Act funds. After completing a 60-day review, the administration modified the oral communications ban to include not just federally registered lobbyists, but everyone who contacts government officials. However, that ban appears to only apply to competitive grant applications that have been submitted for review.

Every year, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) request public comments on recommendations for their Guidance Priority List to identify tax issues that should be addressed through regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, and other guidance for the year. OMB Watch recently submitted comments that urge the IRS to prioritize the creation of a bright-line definition of prohibited political activity for tax-exempt charities and religious organizations. Such clarity is particularly important given recent findings that IRS agents have not properly differentiated between permissible advocacy and activities that are considered partisan election intervention.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) proposed an amendment to the State Secrets Protection Act (S. 417) on May 21, 2009 when the bill was scheduled for consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It was one of several amendments offered, but the committee took no action. However, Kyl's proposal, rejected by the Senate in 2007, would amend the prohibition on providing "material support" to terrorists to include aid to members of their families or those "otherwise associated" with them, subject to a broadly defined intent standard. The proposal contravenes accepted standards of nondiscrimination in humanitarian aid developed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and would criminalize aid based on a subjective and undefined intent standard.