LOBBYING/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Six months after Republicans pushed a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul through Congress, many of the most influential players who worked behind the scenes on the legislation are no longer on Capitol Hill or in the Trump administration. They are now lobbyists. The two-way street between lobbying and lawmaking is well worn in Washington. But after President Trump’s campaign pledge to ‘drain the swamp,’ there was some speculation that the so-called special interests might be sidelined. And while the frenetic two-month sprint last year to pass the tax legislation left some lobbyists marginalized, the businesses now scrambling to navigate the changes are increasingly recruiting the people who wrote it. With the November midterm elections near, and the possibility that Republicans could lose control of the House or the Senate, staff members have additional motivation to move on.”
-Alan Rappeport, “Government Work Done, Tax Policy Writers Decamp to Lobbying Jobs,” The New York Times online, July 7, 2018