Byrd Amendment — Prohibition on Using Federal Funds for Lobbying

The core rule: If you receive a federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement worth $100,000 or more, you cannot use that federal money to lobby for more federal money. You can lobby all you want — but you have to pay for it yourself.

That's the Byrd Amendment in a sentence. Codified at 31 U.S.C. § 1352 and named after its Senate sponsor, West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd, the law passed in 1989 after investigators discovered that federal grantees were charging lobbying expenses directly to federal award budgets — essentially billing taxpayers to fund campaigns for more taxpayer dollars. The implementing regulations, issued simultaneously by every federal agency in 1990 under OMB coordination, appear at 29 CFR Part 93 (DOL's version), 2 CFR Part 418 (grants), and equivalent CFR parts at every department.

Current Rule (2026)

Key Mechanics

The prohibition operates at the transaction level, not the organization level — a distinction that trips up many compliance teams.

A major defense contractor can maintain a $5 million annual Washington lobbying operation, employ a team of registered lobbyists, and fund political action committees — all lawfully, provided that spending comes from company revenues, not from the specific appropriated funds flowing through a covered federal award. What the Byrd Amendment bans is charging lobbying expenses to the budget of the award itself. A $10 million NIH research grant recipient cannot list "government relations retainer — $200,000" as a line item in that grant's budget, even if the lobbying concerns the very research area the grant funds.

What counts as prohibited lobbying: Under 31 U.S.C. § 1352, the prohibition covers paying any person to "influence or attempt to influence" a federal officer or employee, a Member of Congress, or a congressional staffer in connection with the awarding, extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of a covered federal transaction. The statute intentionally uses broad language — it captures direct lobbying contacts, grassroots campaigns directed at covered officials, and strategic advisory services whose purpose is to influence award decisions.

What is not prohibited: Two key exceptions prevent the rule from sweeping in routine grant administration and technical compliance work.

• Own-employee liaison activities (§ 93.200): A recipient's own employees can communicate with federal agencies about normal program implementation and provide technical assistance to congressional offices without triggering the prohibition. The rule targets paid outside influence operations, not day-to-day program management.
• Professional and technical services (§ 93.205): Recipients can charge federal funds for professional services — legal filings, environmental assessments, regulatory compliance consulting — even when those services involve communication with federal officials, as long as the primary purpose is performing the work, not influencing the award decision.

The disclosure requirement for non-federal lobbying: If you use your own money (not appropriated federal funds) to lobby related to a covered federal award, that activity is permitted but must be disclosed. You file Standard Form LLL identifying the lobbying firm, individual lobbyists, the federal agency and award number, amount paid, and the legislative objective. SF-LLL is updated each calendar quarter when reportable payments occur. Agency heads compile these disclosures semi-annually and report them to the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate (§ 93.600) — creating a public paper trail even for privately funded lobbying tied to federal awards.

Certification: Before submitting any bid, proposal, or application for a covered award, you must certify that no appropriated funds have been or will be used for prohibited lobbying (§ 93.110). This certification flows down — prime recipients must require subrecipients and subcontractors at or above $100,000 to certify and disclose as well.

Civil penalties: Violations draw a civil fine of $10,000 to $100,000 per violation under the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act (31 U.S.C. §§ 3801–3812). But the real enforcement risk for most organizations is False Claims Act exposure: if you certify Byrd Amendment compliance while knowingly violating the rule, you've made a false certification to the federal government, which opens the door to treble damages and qui tam suits by whistleblowers.

DoD national security exemption: The Secretary of Defense can exempt specific activities necessary to support the national security mission on a case-by-case basis (§ 93.500) — recognizing that defense contractor communications with congressional defense committees can be integral to major program execution in ways that blur the line between lobbying and program management.

How It Affects You

If you're a federal contractor: The Byrd Amendment certification lives inside your representations and certifications in SAM.gov and appears in virtually every solicitation. It is not a formality. Before you bid on any federal contract at or above $100,000, confirm that your indirect cost rate structure doesn't include lobbying costs that might be charged to government contracts. If your firm uses non-federal funds for lobbying related to specific contract awards, you need a process for identifying those activities and completing SF-LLL. Knowingly certifying compliance while violating the rule is a False Claims Act problem — not just a regulatory fine.

If you work in federal grants compliance: The Byrd Amendment flows downstream. If your organization receives a federal grant and passes subawards at or above $100,000 to subrecipients, your subaward agreements must include the Byrd Amendment certification requirement and flowdown clause. You are responsible for ensuring subrecipients certify and disclose properly. An audit finding here — especially combined with a false certification — can jeopardize not just the grant but your organization's broader federal funding relationship.

If you're at a nonprofit or university with federal funding: This is where the Byrd Amendment catches organizations off guard. Many nonprofits and academic institutions employ government relations staff or retain advocacy consultants. If those costs are ever allocated — even partially — to federally funded programs or grants, you have a compliance problem. The fix is a clean separation between advocacy/lobbying accounts and federally funded program accounts, typically enforced through your indirect cost rate agreement and accounting policies.

If you're a lobbyist working federal award issues: When your client uses non-federal money to pay you for lobbying related to covered federal transactions, your name, your firm, the amount, and the specific federal action appear on SF-LLL — which gets compiled into semi-annual congressional reports. This information is public. Counsel your clients to maintain clean records of which lobbying activities relate to covered federal awards so SF-LLL filings are accurate and timely.

If you're a contracting or grants officer: You must collect the Byrd Amendment certification with each covered application or solicitation. A false certification by an applicant doesn't relieve you of recordkeeping obligations, and it creates significant enforcement exposure for the applicant. Build collection and retention of certifications and SF-LLL forms into your award documentation checklist.

Legal Authority

• 31 U.S.C. § 1352 — the Byrd Amendment: prohibits use of appropriated funds for lobbying in connection with federal contracts, grants, loans, and cooperative agreements; requires certification by all applicants; mandates SF-LLL disclosure for non-federal lobbying related to covered awards; establishes $10,000–$100,000 civil penalties; authorizes each agency to issue implementing regulations; requires semi-annual congressional reporting of compiled disclosures
• 31 U.S.C. §§ 3801–3812 — Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act: the administrative penalty enforcement vehicle for Byrd Amendment violations
• 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729–3733 — False Claims Act: the parallel civil liability framework triggered when a recipient falsely certifies Byrd Amendment compliance
• 29 CFR Part 93 — DOL implementing regulations (representative of the government-wide regulatory scheme adopted by every federal agency in 1990)
• 2 CFR Part 418 — grants-specific implementing regulation under OMB Uniform Guidance

Recent Rulemakings

The original Byrd Amendment implementing regulations were issued simultaneously by all federal agencies in 1990 — one of the largest coordinated government-wide rulemakings to date. OMB orchestrated materially identical regulations across every department and major agency, creating a uniform compliance framework rather than a patchwork of agency-specific rules.

The 2013 OMB Uniform Guidance (2 CFR Part 200) reaffirmed the Byrd Amendment as a standard federal grant condition, codified in the cross-cutting compliance requirements now housed at 2 CFR Part 418. This consolidation simplified grants compliance by giving recipients a single authoritative source for grant-related Byrd Amendment requirements.

No major substantive amendments have been enacted since 1990. The $100,000 threshold — set in statute at 31 U.S.C. § 1352 — has never been adjusted for inflation, meaning it captures a broader swath of federal awards in real terms today than it did when the law passed.

Recent Developments

2025–2026 enforcement context: The Byrd Amendment sits at the intersection of two active enforcement priorities: False Claims Act litigation against federal contractors and grantees, and increased scrutiny of government relations costs in indirect cost rate audits. The Department of Justice and agency Inspectors General have continued to use false certification claims — including Byrd Amendment certifications — as hooks for broader FCA investigations. Organizations receiving funds under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and 2022 Inflation Reduction Act face heightened compliance exposure given the scale and speed of those funding streams.

SAM.gov integration: The Byrd Amendment certification is embedded in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) representations and certifications module, meaning every registered entity in SAM makes an active Byrd Amendment representation whenever it updates its registration or submits an offer. OMB has not proposed changes to the underlying regulations, but the integration of certifications into SAM has streamlined collection and audit trail requirements.

Threshold inflation gap: Policy observers and government accountability advocates have periodically flagged that the $100,000 threshold — unchanged since 1989 — captures far more federal transactions in nominal terms today than Congress intended. A threshold adjusted for inflation from 1989 would exceed $240,000 in 2025 dollars. No legislative proposals to adjust the threshold have advanced as of 2026.