Travel Reimbursement Rules in the News

Federal Times reproduces a USA Today story about federal agency acceptance of travel reimbursements from outside sources:

Under federal law, it is permissible for corporations and interest groups to give free trips to executive branch agencies as long as there is no conflict of interest. But the definition of a conflict, laid out in regulations, is vague enough that some agencies will only accept trips from nonprofit foundations and universities, while others sign off on travel funded by vendors and trade groups.

“Just because lawyers are approving trips doesn’t mean officials should be taking them,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

The end of the story quotes several experts:

Jan Witold Baran, an ethics law expert at Washington firm Wiley Rein, said agencies that allow such trips are under “a burden to explain the inconsistencies with the way other agencies may review these requests.”

The rules say an agency should not accept payment for travel if it “would cause a reasonable person ... to question the integrity of agency programs or operations.” In evaluating that, an agency should consider whether the sponsor has a pending matter in front of the agency, whether the traveler has influence over that matter, and the nature of the trip.

Ira Kaye, senior counsel for ethics at the Treasury Department, said the rules envision a conflict only if the sponsor has a matter pending before the traveler, not the agency. And, “it is not impossible that ... the deciding official could accept the offer even if there were a pending matter.”

Baran noted that members of Congress sometimes criticize agencies for spending money on conferences. “It’s a no-win situation,” he said. “If they use tax money, they get hammered for spending tax money, and if they accept private funding, they get hammered for potential conflict of interest.”

Federal Times also posted a related story. Thanks to Cary Williams for the tip about these articles.