The Revolving Door

The revolving door describes officials who leave government for jobs lobbying or working for the industries they regulated or the agencies and committees they served, and private-sector figures who enter government to oversee their former industries. Members of Congress and senior staff are frequently hired as lobbyists, and former officials at defense, financial, health, and energy agencies often join companies in those fields. Studies have found that a substantial share of departing members of Congress take jobs in lobbying or government relations.

Federal law limits the practice. Under 18 U.S.C. 207, first enacted in its modern form in 1962 and strengthened by the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, former executive branch employees may never lobby on specific matters they handled personally, and senior officials face one- or two-year cooling-off periods before contacting their former agencies. The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 barred former senators from lobbying Congress for two years and former House members for one year. Presidents have added ethics pledges by executive order, with Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden each imposing their own versions, which successors have often revoked.

Defenders say movement between sectors brings needed expertise into government and lets the private sector benefit from public service experience, and that strict bans would deter talented people from serving. Critics say the prospect of lucrative later jobs can shape officials' decisions while in office, contributing to regulatory capture, and that cooling-off periods are easily evaded by working as strategic advisers who do not formally register as lobbyists. Watchdog groups track the movement of officials across administrations of both parties.