Barack Obama did it.

So did Donald Trump.

And now Joe Biden is doing it too.

• Each of these presidents required people they appointed to positions in the federal government to wait some number of years after leaving the job before lobbying the very agencies in which they served.

• In fact, it was one of the first actions each of them took upon becoming president.

• But — in one of his final acts as president just hours before he slinked out of the White House for the last time — Trump rescinded the requirement for everyone who was part of his administration, the most corrupt in American history.

• (Shamefully, Bill Clinton did the same thing right before he left office.)

• This didn’t get much attention yesterday amid Biden’s inauguration and the gush of last-minute pardons Trump issued late Tuesday night.

• And while it may sound kind of wonky, it’s actually vital to loosening Corporate America’s stranglehold on our government.

Biden’s version of this commonsense anti-corruption measure — if fully enforced and not rescinded later — could be a game-changer.

Along with a two-year lobbying ban, it aims to curtail unregistered lobbyists, close (or at least slow down) the revolving door between government and Big Business, and eliminate so-called “golden parachutes” that essentially (and lavishly) reward corporate executives for “slumming it” in government.

Tell Joe Biden:

Thank you for requiring your appointees to pledge to serve Main Street, not Wall Street. We expect you to fully enforce your anti-corruption executive order and to never rescind it.

Add your name.

Thank you for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

P.S. For half a century, Public Citizen has been advancing policies that put the needs of everyday Americans before the greed of billionaires and Big Business. That legacy of progress and that ongoing work could not matter more right now, as our nation transitions to a Joe Biden presidency that will be as progressive as we — you and Public Citizen, together — make it. And — like so many nonprofits and small businesses — we continue to experience financial strain related to the coronavirus pandemic. If you can, please make an emergency donation today to support the critical work we’re doing together or even join our popular Monthly Giving program. Thank you.
 
 
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