THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release August 11, 1994

The White House announced today a policy of forbidding Cabinet Secretaries and other Presidential appointees in executive branch agencies and the White House from accepting travel services or accommodations from any company or association of companies regulated by or doing business with the agency in question, regardless of whether full reimbursement is made.

Exceptions will be allowed for cases where the trip is for official business purposes or no other travel services or accommodations are practically available. Exceptions will be subject to advance approval by the agency's ethics officer who, in appropriate cases, may consult the office of White House Counsel.

White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler said the new policy is being adopted because the Standards of Ethical Conduct issued in 1992 by the Office of Government Ethics do not expressly forbid the provision of travel services and accommodations that are fully reimbursed, even when the providing company or association is regulated by or does business with the agency concerned. Mr. Cutler said the White House was therefore adopting its own rule to cover future cases.

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