Treasury Issues Guidelines for Communications Regarding Troubled Asset Relief Program

On September 10, 2009, the Department of the Treasury issued guidance regarding communications with outside persons regarding Emergency Economic Stabilization Act funds (EESA) and Recovery Act funds. EESA is the implementing statute for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The new guidance closely follows guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on July 24, 2009, (see previous client alert here) and seeks to preserve consistency between Treasury guidance and OMB guidance.

The new guidance clarifies that communications between federal agency officials and outside persons, including federally registered lobbyists, concerning general logistical questions about Recovery Act funding or implementation are unrestricted. That is, requests for a meeting, inquiries concerning the status of an action, inquiries concerning the deadlines or logistics of Recovery Act funding opportunities or other similar administrative requests that do not involve advocacy concerning Recovery Act policy or a particular project or application for funding under the Recovery Act are not subject to restriction and need not be publicly disclosed.

Click here to read the full alert.