Obama seeks to assure Grassley on Defense pick

The Obama administration sent detailed letters to Sen. Chuck Grassley in an attempt to persuade the Iowa Republican to drop objections to a controversial defense appointee who has lobbied in the past.
 
Convincing Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, not to put a hold on William Lynn’s nomination to become deputy secretary of Defense could be the difference in Lynn’s confirmation.
 
{mosads}Both Lynn and Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag sent Grassley letters on Feb. 3, attempting to answer a host of questions raised by the senator.
 
In his 5-page letter, Orszag said that Lynn agreed he would not work in areas where he had lobbied for Raytheon Co., one of the largest defense contractors in the United States.
 
A Grassley aide said Wednesday that the senator has not made up his mind on how he will handle his highly publicized misgivings about Lynn.
 
The aide said Grassley is still gathering information and is undecided about his support for Lynn. The White House issued a waiver for Lynn from the new ethics rules barring lobbyists from serving in the federal government.
 
Grassley is perhaps the strongest remaining obstacle in Lynn’s path to confirmation, after Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, decided not to hold up the nomination.
 
Grassley accused Lynn of bad budget practices while serving as the department’s chief financial officer during the Clinton administration. Grassley also opposed Lynn’s lobbying ties and demanded more information.
 
The Orszag letter not only seeks to defend Grassley’s previous tenure at the Pentagon, but also the waiver from the ethics rule given to Lynn.
 
Orszag said that Lynn’s high-level experience in managing the Pentagon’s budgetary and procurement functions “is extremely rare.” He sought to alleviate Grassley’s concerns that the ethics compliance process Lynn would have to undergo will hinder him from doing his job.
 
Lynn fills the urgent need to have the “best qualified individuals serving at the highest levels of the president’s national security team,” Orszag wrote to Grassley.
 
Apart from divesting his Raytheon stock within 90 days of his appointment, Lynn will also not seek any kind of authorization to participate in decisions on any of the six programs he lobbied for while he was a registered lobbyist at Raytheon. Among those programs are some high-profile endeavors: the Navy’s next-generation destroyer, the DDG-1000; an upgrade to the Patriot missile program; the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile; and the missile defense Multiple Kill Vehicle.
 
Orszag said that Lynn was chosen after an “extensive process” and “rigorous” review and was the best qualified candidate for the job.
 
In his letter answering Grassley’s questions, Lynn defended his financial and budgetary efforts during his previous Pentagon tenure and assured Grassley he would abide by strict ethics rules already in existence. He also stressed that the waiver does not apply when he decides to leave his Pentagon post. He would not be allowed to communicate with the Pentagon for two years and would be barred from lobbying Pentagon officials for the remainder of the Obama administration.