Lobbyists, lawmakers, and congressional staff better have rested up over the Thanksgiving break because they’re about to sprint through the lame-duck session while getting their holiday party schmooze on.
Lobbying firms, trade associations and K Street networking groups will toast the season over the coming weeks with receptions, parties, and soirees, according to invitations.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are putting a festive twist on their year-end fundraising fetes, too, giving lobbyists an opportunity to make merry while delivering donations.
It’s not just any holiday season. On the cusp of a new Congress and administration, lobbyists are eager to meet the incoming officials, soon-to-be members and aides that will hold the power over mega policy priorities for the nation’s business community. Holiday parties offer a natural chance to build ties.
Even many Democrats, distressed over the election results, plan to partake as they gear up for the disruption ahead in the 119th Congress and second Trump administration.
“The holidays are always a good time to connect and celebrate the season with friends no matter who wins elections,” said Democratic lobbyist and donor Steve Elmendorf, whose bipartisan communications and lobbying firm Avoq plans a holiday celebration Dec. 12. “I expect the same festive spirit and even better attendance at our holiday party.”
Some of the other hot tickets include American Defense International’s holiday reception this week at Eastern Market and a holiday soiree next week hosted by the women lobbyist-lawmaker networking group 131 & Counting.
The US Energy Association has planned its annual holiday reception for Dec. 12.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association on Dec. 11 beckons that the group “will have plenty of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, so come and celebrate the holidays with us!”
The beef group’s invitation, like many others, comes with a disclaimer that the event is “designed to comply with House and Senate Ethics Rules,” a reminder that the gift rules apply at holiday functions.
Party Rules
“If I were a member or a current staffer, I would probably ask somebody to run whatever I got invited to by the ethics committee,” said Meredith McGehee, who has long pushed for congressional ethics rules.
The panels do offer guidance online.
The House Ethics website stipulates, for example, that receptions with cocktails and finger foods, sometimes dubbed the toothpick rule, are permissible while events that include a “carving station, salad station, and a collection of breads” would cross the line to a full meal.
“People think a lot of these rules are written by Scrooge, but it’s because someone has, in fact, tried to get around the rules using these kinds of events,” said McGehee, a former executive director of Issue One, who runs McGehee Strategies. “This was the creativity, if you will, of the lobbying community trying to find a leg up.”
Lobbyists who are hosting holiday receptions dial up their lawyers in addition to their caterers.
Steve Roberts, a partner at Holtzman Vogel, represents lobbying firms, companies that employ lobbyists, and trade associations. This time of year, he spends time scrutinizing menus, he said. Raw bars, he said, are generally OK, while offering a slice of pizza looks too much like a meal.
His clients, he said, are “absolutely paying attention” to the rules.
“They certainly don’t want to do anything that’s going to get their guests into trouble,” he added.
One party venue of years past, Charlie Palmer Steak, won’t be around for this season’s cheer as the longtime lobbyist hangout said it was closing at the end of November, according to a report in Washingtonian magazine.
Holiday Cookie Dough
Lawmakers and aides don’t have to worry about the ethics of their menu options at fundraisers. And many have designed holiday-themed events to lure lobbyists and political action committee donors while all are in town for the lame duck.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who will chair his party’s conference, has planned a mid-month holiday happy hour fundraiser featuring a Toys for Tots collection drive, according to an invitation shared with lobbyists.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and several of his colleagues are planning a holiday cookie and coffee reception Monday in support of Grassley’s Hawkeye leadership PAC.
Holiday cookie fundraisers are also happening across the aisle and in the other chamber: Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) has one planned later this week.
BOLD PAC, the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is planning a holiday party to rock into the end of the year, featuring Astro Max, a band whose members include Florida Democratic Reps. Darren Soto and Maxwell Frost, according to an invitation.
“Super psyched to rock it out” with Frost and “our new band,” Soto said on X earlier this year about a different gig for the group.
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