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B-285298 1 (2000-05-22)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptalcz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 



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United States General Accounting Office                        Office of the General Counsel
Washington, DC 20548



         B-285298

         May 22, 2000

         The Honorable Frank R. Wolf
         House of Representatives

         Subject: Lobbying Activity in Support of China Permanent Normal Trade Relations

         Dear Mr. Wolf:

         As you requested, this letter provides a further update on our review of the efforts of
         the White House China Trade Relations Working Group and selected agencies to gain
         support for pending legislation, which would, if enacted, provide for the
         establishment of permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) for China. You asked us
         to determine whether any of these efforts have violated the anti-lobbying provisions
         of 18 U.S.C. § 1913 or any applicable appropriations statutes.

         In connection with our review, we sent information requests to the White House and
         the agencies which are represented on the Working Group. In response to these
         information requests, hundreds of documents have been provided to us by the White
         House and the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, State, the Treasury and the
         Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.2 Based on our ongoing review of the
         documentation we have received to date, we have identified one instance, involving
         an e-mail authored by an agency representative assigned to the Working Group,
         which on its face constitutes a violation of the applicable anti-lobbying appropriation
         provision, although it involves a minimal expenditure of appropriated funds. We have
         discussed this e-mail with the White House Counsel's Office.






         1 See H.R. 4444 and S. 2277. We provided an earlier status report on our review of the
         Administration's efforts to garner support for this legislation on May 8, 2000
         (GAO/GGD-00-130R).
         2 In doing our review we have relied on the agencies to furnish us with complete and
         accurate documentation. Our conclusions are based on the facts as presented in the
         documentation provided to us.

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