policy
Private: Ensuring the independence of inspectors general (IGs)
Loopholes in our system allow presidents to overreach and fire IGs for political or personal reasons, undermining the public’s ability to hold government officials accountable.
Preventing undue influence, corruption, and the appearance of corruption by elected officials, lobbyists, and members of the executive branch.
Too often, though, there is lax or no enforcement of ethics and lobbying laws in Congress and the executive branch.
Many Americans feel members of Congress, government officials, and lobbyists are above the law, using their positions of power for personal or financial gain. Such corruption — or even the appearance of corruption — has a corrosive effect on our democracy, undermining public confidence in the integrity of our most sacred institutions.
To win public trust in our government, it’s imperative we build — and enforce — stronger ethics, accountability, and transparency laws for Congress, the executive branch, and for lobbyists.
We:
Our impact:
ReFormers Caucus member Brian Baird quoted...
Issue One Legislative Director Elise Wirkus cited...
Legislation & policy analysis
Today, Reps. Ben Cline (R-VA) and Dean Phillips (D-MN) introduced H.R. 8022, the Lobbying Disclosure Reform Act of 2020 (LDA). This is the first substantive update of the LDA in…
Sign-on letters
Issue One has joined more than a dozen other organizations from across the political spectrum in urging senators to make appropriations mark-ups more accessible to the American people. Implementing a…
Press releases
In response to the news that the House Democratic Caucus finally made their rules public after public interest groups, including Issue One, pushed for more than a year for their…
Podcast episodes
“So if a normal year of government spending justifies a multi-billion dollar lobbying industry, you can just imagine what happened when the CARES Act came into focus. It was…
Press releases
Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee released the following statement today after the Senate rejected the Pentagon’s proposal to weaken current lobbying restrictions on former Pentagon officials. The decision followed…
Podcast episodes
“Let me give it to you straight: Over the last decade it has become commonplace in Washington for people who lobby the government to avoid registering as lobbyists, thus…
Press releases
Issue One on Wednesday sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees opposing a new Pentagon proposal to weaken post-employment lobbying restrictions on former…
Podcast episodes
“There’s no question members of Congress have access to information that the public does not have, therefore if you want transparency, if you want open hands and a clean…
Sign-on letters
This week, Issue One signed on to a crosspartisan letter to congressional leaders urging transparency and oversight of the forthcoming federal economic relief efforts amid the coronavirus crisis. “Large-scale legislation…
Press releases
In response to the news that multiple U.S. senators sold stock after receiving classified briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic, Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee released the following statement: “This…