Government Relations

Overview

Arent Fox has one of the nation’s leading public policy practice groups, bringing first-hand knowledge, judgment and experience to clients’ government relations needs. We have a bipartisan team of lawyers and policy professionals with experience in Republican and Democratic politics and government service. The group includes a former member of the US House of Representatives, a former Ambassador, the former mayor of the District of Columbia, a former member of the board of directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Additionally, we have attorneys and professionals with extensive and recent experience in senior positions on Capitol Hill, in the executive branch and in the political arena.

We work with colleagues in other Arent Fox practice groups such as intellectual property, life sciences, antitrust and tax to support government relations strategies. We build and maintain coalitions, grassroots efforts and constituent support initiatives, including Web-based advocacy networks. We also incorporate public relations efforts, fundraising and media campaigns.

Federal Advocacy

Arent Fox concentrates on the issues, rules and advocacy strategies that are important to clients that have matters under consideration by the administration, Congress, federal regulators, state and local legislators and national policymakers. We help large and small companies in nearly every sector – health care, manufacturing, service, trade, technology and financial – achieve their business objectives by advocating on their behalf with the right people. We resolve legislative and regulatory problems for numerous trade associations, universities, governmental organizations and other nonprofits, and we assist clients in identifying opportunities for federal funding.

Arent Fox supports clients at the federal level by:

• Shaping legislation, regulations and government policy through direct lobbying and coordination with members of Congress, administration officials and key staff members
• Monitoring, analyzing and reporting on legislative and regulatory developments
• Drafting legislation, position papers, agency comments and testimony
• Assisting in preparation of federal grant, loan, and loan guarantee applications in coordination with Arent Fox Government Contractor Services group
• Preparing witnesses for hearings, testifying on behalf of clients before Congress and representing clients in Congressional and executive branch investigations

Results of our recent federal advocacy efforts include:

• Passage of H.R. 6143 and secured increased funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006, which provides over $2 billion in HIV/AIDS treatment and support services funding annually, on behalf of Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief (CAEAR) Coalition, the largest HIV/AIDS coalition of metropolitan areas and community health clinics in the nation
• Serving as lead lobbyists for the Committee to Restore Dealer Rights, a nationwide coalition of terminated General Motors and Chrysler dealers that secured hundreds of cosponsors for legislation that would help restore their dealerships and ultimately obtained unprecedented bipartisan legislation in December, 2009 that established an arbitration process by which they could seek reinstatement and which has resulted in the reinstatement of hundreds of dealers around the nation. Arent Fox's efforts on behalf of the Committee to Restore Dealer Rights was selected as one of the “Top 10 Lobbying Triumphs” of 2009 by The Hill, the highly respected Washington, DC newspaper dedicated to covering the US Congress.
• $15 million in appropriations over several years for engineering and design work for a regional passenger rail project and legislation authorizing the final construction phase
• Helped obtain language assisting minority investors in the legislation establishing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in 2008
• Assisted a company in the wind energy industry in its effort to secure favorable tax incentives for its products – incentives that Congress ultimately enacted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)
• More than $7 million in Defense Department medical technology research grants for AdMeTech Foundation, a nonprofit in Boston devoted to facilitating the development of early prostate cancer detection systems using advanced digital imaging technologies. In addition, we worked with members of Congress to draft H. Res. 353, which calls for increased federal funding for prostate imaging research and which the House unanimously approved in June 2008 with 101 co-sponsors
• For a NYSE-listed consumer products company, the Arent Fox government relations team collaborated with attorneys in the corporate and regulatory practice groups to develop and implement political and legislative strategies regarding a draft rule being considered by the Federal Trade Commission. The Arent Fox team also assisted the company in developing congressional support for its positions and in generating congressional action on this issue, including obtaining an opportunity for a corporate official to testify before the House Small Business Committee
• A decision by the US Department of Health and Human Services to provide over $30 million in Medicaid-enhanced physician payments sought by a university, the culmination of a government relations strategy we designed and executed to encourage the agency to reverse its initial denial of those payments two years earlier. Also obtained $1 million for this university for the purchase of cancer treatment equipment
• Assisted the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center museum in Ohio in securing enactment of authorizing legislation preserving funding for US Department of Education programs regarding the legacy of the Underground Railroad; also obtained appropriations for this critical program in 2008
• $1.6 million in Defense Department funding for a biotechnology company working on a solution for anthrax and other biodefense needs
• Millions of dollars for a rural telemedicine program that ensures high-quality care for at-risk patients in the South
• For a small importer in the Midwestern United States, we secured a provision in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (which incorporated the text of a miscellaneous tariff bill) that resulted in the reliquidation of $500,000 in previously assessed duties
• An increase in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s share of funds for health and education benefits under the federal No Child Left Behind Act
• More than $1 million for Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to establish the Center for Assistive Technology, which trains K-12 teachers in new learning technologies for disabled and English-as-a-second-language students
• A seven-year deferral of a Federal Communications Commission decision to impose substantial and accelerated licensing restrictions, saving our client, an international coalition of mining companies, millions of dollars
• Successfully represented numerous individuals, corporations, and trade associations in congressional inquiries/investigations before Committees including House Energy and Commerce and Senate Aging

State and Local Advocacy

Arent Fox has worked on state and local issues for many years, but we are most active in Washington, where the firm was founded. We maintain an active local government affairs practice and diverse relationships throughout the District of Columbia government, including the mayor’s office, numerous executive agencies, the attorney general’s office, the City Council and with Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s representative in Congress.

Arent Fox was selected to represent the city before the White House and Congress, and we have worked closely with District of Columbia departments that are likely to play a role in proposed economic development projects. We also have steered many historic projects through the complex processes that require approvals from the mayor, city council and independent agencies.

Results of recent state and local advocacy efforts include:

• Passage of HR 3699, the historic “Federal and District of Columbia Government Real Property Act of 2005,” which transfers large parcels of land, including Poplar Point on the Anacostia River and Reservation 13 adjacent to RFK Stadium, from the federal government to the District government for development
• Passage of the $1.8 billion Southeast Federal Center development next to the Washington Navy Yard, the largest single economic development project in the District of Columbia
• $25 million grant to expand the Shakespeare Theater
• $40 million in appropriations for Arena Stage’s $100 million redevelopment in Southwest Washington
• $1 million annual tax abatement for a large nonprofit trade association in exchange for bringing even greater convention and tourist revenue to Washington, DC
• Passage of $50 million revenue bond to renovate the Verizon Center

Elections and Political Activity Law

Arent Fox counsels a diverse group of corporate, governmental, quasigovernmental, political and association clients on federal and state election law and tax and communications laws. Political and nonprofit law professionals advise candidates, officeholders, PACs, nonprofits and corporations on election, ethics and lobbying laws.

Arent Fox has significant experience in corporate governance, FCC and Internal Revenue Service regulations, coalition-building and government contracts. We also counsel clients on the Lobbying Disclosure Act, Foreign Agents Registration Act and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.