Government Relations

Our Top Issues

Our team has recently provided advocacy on a range of matters that span a range of critical sectors and issues. From representing the Federal Bar Association and numerous federal judges to secure bipartisan legislation aimed at enhancing judicial security to supporting a successful legislative campaign leading to Presidential authorization of the creation of a women’s history museum on the National Mall, we have helped our clients develop practical government relations strategies to achieve today’s targets and anticipate and proactively address tomorrow’s problems.

Additional advocacy reflecting our group’s diverse work includes:

Health Care/Food and Drug

• Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement, HHS program funding, health workforce funding, and public health.
• Representing the American Association of Teaching Health Centers and its more than 80 community-based health care facilities, we have led an informal coalition of stakeholder associations since 2016 and helped secure enactment of several multi-year reauthorizations for a graduate medical education program as well as a doubling of the funding for this program. Lobbying on this legislation involved negotiations with key Members of Congress, Energy and Commerce and HELP Committee staff, leadership staff, helping orchestrate several fly-ins by association members, negotiating with other stakeholder groups, prepping client for Congressional testimony, and helping direct social media efforts. 
• Assisted the Food Is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) with the creation of its initial policy agenda, and engaged Members of Congress, the White House, and think tanks in support of the introduction of bipartisan and bicameral legislation to provide Medicare reimbursement for the distribution of Medically Tailored Meals. We assisted in securing unanimous passage of legislation out of the Committee of Ways & Means containing updated bill language critical to FIMC’s mission of providing medically tailored meals to individuals who need it most. In addition, at a White House Conference on this subject, we helped get FIMC’s policy priority adopted as one of the four pillars of the Administration proposal. 
• Represented the American Psychological Association in multiple Congressional meetings – as well as facilitated meetings with senior Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials – to develop and implement a successful initiative to increase Medicare reimbursement for psychologists and neuropsychologists.
• Secured the passage of an increase in funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act, and annual appropriations of over $2 billion for HIV/AIDS treatment and support services, 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. This involved coordinating with a public relations firm, the client’s board of directors, and countless individual CAEAR members.
• Represented the Infectious Diseases Society of America as it responded to COVID-19, RSV, and other public health crises, including helping secure passage of bipartisan legislation to establish a student loan repayment program for new infectious diseases professionals. 
• Assisted a trade association for several years to help secure enactment and needed modifications to bipartisan legislation modifying federal regulation of cosmetics and fragrance.
• Assisted a medical device manufacturer in over a decade of advocacy before Congress and the Executive Branch on Medicare reimbursement, including facilitating numerous meetings with key Members of Congress, committee leadership, trade associations, and other stakeholders. ArentFox Schiff successfully helped restore a significant amount of proposed reimbursement cuts and collaborated with companies and associations in an informal joint effort.
• Managing a “best practices in purchasing” initiative for a health care coalition that helps hospitals and health care practices provide more affordable services by managing their supply chain.

Tax

• Advocating for tax policy changes to benefit a whole range of institutions, including colleges, churches, commercial real estate developers, drug companies, and small businesses.
• Assisting the Work College Consortium (WCC), a consortium of nine federally recognized Work Colleges which have an integrated work-learning-service curriculum, including successfully obtaining favorable tax treatment for student wages which offset the cost of tuition under a mandatory work requirement, inserting clarifying language exempting from the endowment tax Work Colleges which do not charge tuition.
• Assisted a major alternative energy company in modifying and extending tax provisions that support its expansion into the domestic market.
• Representing Americans Standing for the Simplification of the Estate Tax (ASSET), a tax coalition dedicated to reforming and simplifying the estate tax, including helping the coalition generate new members, develop legislative proposals and supporting advocacy materials, and obtain meetings with key Members of Congress, staff, and think tank experts.
• Obtained numerous tax incentives for local commercial and nonprofit development projects.

Trade

• Represent trade associations and companies in advocacy related to free trade agreements, Section 301 and Section 232 tariffs, and other trade policy matters.
• Represented a major European specialty steel manufacturer on matters related to Section 232 tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration on foreign steel products, including advocacy before the Department of Commerce, USTR, the White House, and Congress.
• Assisting a U.S. manufacturer in obtaining a $5 million working capital line of credit to support its exports.

Technology

• Represented a major technology trade association in hundreds of Congressional meetings, and facilitated engagements with senior staff from the White House and national security agencies to lead a successful campaign in support of protecting Americans’ access to safe and secure social media services, online search engines, and online shopping experiences. 
• Represented the Federal Bar Association in advocacy for the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security Act, a law enacted in 2022 that established new authorities for federal judges to remove personally identifiable information from websites.

Energy

• Assisting clients with an interest in expansion of clean energy tax incentives through Congressional and Executive Branch advocacy and coordination with trade associations and coalitions.
• Assisted with the passage of legislation ensuring that retail energy providers receive equitable treatment with respect to alternative energy credits.
• Successfully advocated on behalf of a major national biofuels association, and separately on behalf of one of its largest members, for an extension of the existing biodiesel tax credit for two years, at the same time laying the groundwork for transitioning the tax incentive to a biodiesel producers’ credit.

Environment

• Assisted the National Wilderness Society, working on legislation and regulatory matters involving public lands management and national wildlife preserves.
• On behalf of an association client, we were instrumental in helping pass the District of Columbia’s clean energy act, which will allow D.C. to be the first major jurisdiction in the country to reach the target of sourcing all of its electricity needs from renewables. We also helped a client advocate successfully for enactment of the last two iterations of the District’s solar energy standards.

Public Buildings

• Assisted in obtaining authorization of and funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
• Worked on the location of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Montgomery County, MD.
• Advocated for clients on the authorization of the new Department of Defense Joint Medical Command Headquarters in Northern Virginia.
• Assisted a client in negotiating an extension of the Coast Guard Headquarters lease in Washington, D.C.

Education

• Represented the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and assisted in drafting and successfully obtaining Senate unanimous passage in 2022 of a bipartisan resolution calling for increased investment in programs tailored to increasing the presence of Latinos in STEM education and career pathways.
• Assisted the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in its successful effort to obtain a $102 million grant of federal stimulus funding, the largest federal grant in the state of Arkansas’s history and the second largest stimulus grant from broadband stimulus funds in the nation, under the U.S. Commerce Department’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. ArentFox Schiff attorneys helped UAMS at every stage of the application process with respect to regulatory compliance and public policy issues, including helping form the statewide coalition that supported the application, to address critical broadband needs in health care, higher education, public safety, and research in unserved, underserved, and economically distressed areas in Arkansas.
• Assisting the Work College Consortium in obtaining multiple significant increases in their appropriations funding and maintaining the integrity of the Work College model in the Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization process.
• Assisted a nonprofit library association in the defeat of the book banning-related bill H.R. 5, which would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) to require public schools to allow parents to review certain materials and to be informed of, or grant consent for, certain activities.
• Assisted in obtaining a $1.1 million appropriations earmark for Fiscal Year 2023 for one of the longest-standing settlement houses in New York to allow them to complete construction on a neighborhood hub for head start programs and other comprehensive child development services.
• Secured a $500,000 federal appropriations earmark to support an award-winning nonprofit organization that provides tutoring and violence interruption programs in its development of an additional facility in Washington, D.C.

Transportation

• As outside lobbyists for an association of public transportation systems, assisted in securing legislation extending vital transit funding programs, annual appropriations increases, and floor passage of a Senate amendment to forestall substantial cuts in the annual transit budget.
• Advised a major U.S. airline on policy issues related to Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization legislation.
• Assisted in securing significant funding line items for the Florida light rail project in a Department of Transportation Budget and appropriations bill, including advocacy before senior Executive Branch officials and Congress.
• Serving as primary Washington counsel in support of a regional passenger rail project in Pennsylvania, including helping obtain nearly $20 million in appropriations over several years for engineering and design work, advising on issues before the Federal Transit Administration, and working on legislation authorizing the final construction phase.

Economic Development

• Helped to secure passage of H.R. 3699, the historic “Federal and District of Columbia Government Real Property Act,” which transferred 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.
• Assisted the Opportunity Finance Network, a coalition of more than 200 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), with ongoing legislative monitoring, advocacy, and implementation of the annual association fly-in. Assisted in securing increased federal appropriations for small business economic development in the Treasury Department CDFI program and advocated on renewal of the New Markets Tax Credit.

Defense

• Assisted in drafting bipartisan legislation regarding expedited referrals to fetal medicine specialists for pregnant military personnel who may need fetal surgery to correct birth defects. The President signed this provision into law in the FY2018 National Defense Authorization Act.
• Secured autism-oriented report language in the committee reports accompanying several National Defense Authorization Acts in the House and Senate.

State & Local Advocacy

• Assisted with the refinancing and construction of every major sports facility in D.C., including Capital One, Audi Field, and Nationals Park.
• Successfully navigated the D.C. regulatory and licensing requirements for cannabis licensing, health care, and micro mobility, and engaged with clients to prepare communities for subsequent changes in their neighborhoods. 
• Assisted clients with community relations with respect to land use and related activities.
• Helped establish and navigate client relationships with local government to give more credibility and support for CBE government contractors, including those who serve disabilities and schools.

Political Law

• In addition to our federal, state, and local advocacy services, our Political Law group advises a wide range of political, corporate, and nonprofit clients on every aspect of state and federal election law, campaign finance regulation, lobbying compliance, communications law, tax, and government ethics.