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1 1 (January 23, 2002)

handle is hein.crs/crsahum0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS21117 January 23, 2002 Ethical Considerations in Assisting Constituents With Grant Requests Before Federal Agencies Jack Maskell Legislative Attorney American Law Division Summary Ethical Basis For Constituent Assistance Before Federal Agencies. There is no statutory law, nor Rule of the House of Representatives or of the Senate, Congressional Research Service +* The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web There is no inherent ethical problem with a Member's office assisting constituents and constituent organizations with the procedures and applications for Federal grants, up to and including, if the office deems it appropriate, contacting a Federal agency to express interest in and support of the grant application. In conducting such assistance, three general areas of ethical considerations should be noted: 1. In prioritizing grant assistance requests, and deciding whether and at what level assistance is to be provided, Member offices should consider generally the overall public interest and the potential public benefits of the proposal or project. One factor that should not be considered is whether or not the constituent or the organization has supported the Member financially with campaign contributions, and no such linkage should be made either internally or overtly. 2. If it is decided that a proposal has particular merit, or would be particularly beneficial to the community, the office may contact an agency to express interest in the proposal, and may even advocate for the grant proposal. It should be remembered, however, that the administrative agency has the final decision on the matter, and that the awarding of grants is generally a competitive process in which the agency decision is to be made on the merits of the proposal and not on political considerations. It is considered an abuse of a Member's representational role to threaten agency officials, or to make promises to the agency, in an effort to gain administrative action. 3. After official assistance is given to a constituent or a constituent group, the Member and the staff should not receive personally anything of value from the group or person as a payment, a thank you or in appreciation of' the official duties performed on their behalf.

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