Principles of Federal Appropriations Law - US Government ...

Chapter 4
Availability of Appropriations: Purpose
As of early 1995, the Justice Department reported that there had been no
prosecutions under section 1913. 114 See Memorandum for the Attorney
General and the Deputy Attorney General from Walter Dellinger, Assistant
Attorney General, Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, Apr. 14,
1995. To our knowledge, Justice initiated no prosecutions between 1995
and 2002 when section 1913 was amended.
As noted earlier, there has been no judicial activity under the amended
version of 18 U.S.C. § 1913. The only judicial activity addressing the preamendment
version was the issue of whether the statute created a private
right of action. The answer was no. National Treasury Employees
Union v. Campbell, 482 F. Supp. 1122 (D.D.C. 1980), aff’d, 654 F.2d 784
(D.C. Cir. 1981), overruling National Association for Community
Development v. Hodgson, 356 F. Supp. 1399 (D.D.C. 1973); Grassley v.
Legal Services Corp., 535 F. Supp. 818 (S.D. Iowa 1982); American
Trucking Assn’s, Inc. v. Department of Transportation, 492 F. Supp. 566
(D.D.C. 1980).
One other statute with penal sanctions deserves brief mention— the
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, Pub. L. No. 104-65, 109 Stat. 691 (Dec. 19,
1995), codified largely at 2 U.S.C. § 1601–1612. This statute does not apply
to the legislative activities of government agencies, but rather to
organizations that lobby certain federal officials in the legislative and
executive branches. These organizations are required to register with the
Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives and
to semiannually report expenditures and certain other information related
to their lobbying efforts. 2 U.S.C. § 1603(a) and § 1604. 115 This statute
repealed the 1946 Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act, which GAO
criticized for resulting in comparatively few lobbyists registering with
Congress. See U.S. General Accounting Office, Federal Lobbying:
Comments on the Adequacy of Federal Lobbying Laws, GAO/T-GGD-93-49
(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 30, 1993).
114 A conclusion by the Justice Department that section 1913 was violated would not have
automatically resulted in a prosecution. The Attorney General has what is known as
“prosecutorial discretion,” wherein a great many factors influence the decision whether to
prosecute.
115 See U.S. General Accounting Office, Federal Lobbying: Differences in Lobbying
Definitions and Their Impact, GAO/GGD-99-38 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 15, 1999).
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