On January 28, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order (E.O.) E.O. 13770 created an ethics pledge for executive branch appointees, provided for the administration and enforcement of the pledge, and revoked President Barack Obama's executive order ethics pledge that covered his Administration (E.O. 13490). President Trump's executive order shares some features with President Obama's executive order and a previous executive order issued by President Bill Clinton. Since the basis of the ethics pledges is to regulate public and executive branch interactions, this report focuses on the main features of the ethics pledges—lobbying, ethics in government, and the "revolving door"—to explore the basis and current practices for these interactions. The report begins with an overview of the relationship between the public and the executive branch, including the use of laws, executive orders, and other guidance and Administration policy to regulate interactions. A brief summary of executive orders is then provided, including a side-by-side analysis of ethics pledges from the Clinton, Obama, and Trump Administrations. This analysis is followed by observations of the similarities and differences among the three ethics pledges. Today, interactions between the private citizens and the executive branch take many forms. Laws

Several laws address the relationship between governmental and nongovernmental actors. The Revolving Door

Several laws govern the movement of federal employees from the government to the private sector and vice versa. Most prominently, 18 U.S.C. In the context of ethics and lobbying, guidance has been utilized to regulate contact between lobbyists and executive branch employees for certain programs. These include codifying ethics pledge provisions; amending revolving door restrictions; amending the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), or both; or taking no immediate action. Side-by-Side Analysis of Executive Order Ethics Pledges

To provide a comparison of the executive order ethics pledges signed by President Clinton, President Obama, and President Trump, Table A-1 provides a side-by-side analysis of the three ethics pledges, including who was covered, the restrictions placed on covered employees, and the administration and enforcement provisions.
On January 28, 2017, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order (E.O.) 13770 on ethics and lobbying. E.O. 13770 created an ethics pledge for executive branch appointees, provided for the administration and enforcement of the pledge, and revoked President Barack Obama's executive order ethics pledge that covered his Administration (E.O. 13490). President Trump's executive order shares some features with President Obama's executive order and a previous executive order issued by President Bill Clinton.
Executive order ethics pledges are one of several tools, along with laws and administrative guidance, available to influence the interactions and relationships between the public and the executive branch. The ability of private citizens to contact government officials is protected by the Constitution. As such, the restrictions placed by executive order ethics pledges, laws, and administrative guidance are designed to provide transparency and address enforcement of existing "revolving door" (when federal employees leave government for employment in the private sector) and lobbying laws.
The report begins with an overview of the relationship between the public and the executive branch, including the use of laws, executive orders, and other guidance and Administration policy to regulate interactions. A brief summary of recent executive orders is then provided, including a side-by-side analysis of ethics pledges from the Clinton, Obama, and Trump Administrations. This analysis is followed by observations about the similarities and differences among the three pledges. These observations focus on
the revolving door restrictions (18 U.S.C. §207), the definition of lobbying used in ethics pledges, and the representation of foreign principals by former executive branch officials.
In the context of observations drawn from the ethics pledges, Congress has many options available to potentially address the relationship and contact between the private sector and government employees. These include options to
amend revolving door restrictions, amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, and codify the ethics pledge to make executive order additions to existing laws permanent.
Additionally, Congress could take no immediate action and maintain current standards.