WASHINGTON – Government watchdogs who’ve long pushed to “drain the swamp” are encouraged by some of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposals to curtail the influence of lobbyists on his administration.

But, at the same time, the groups are concerned that Trump’s actions and comments thus far only deal with one direction the revolving door of government turns.

Trump on Monday said he will institute on his first day in office a five-year ban on on administration officials lobbying the White House when they leave government.

However, Trump hasn’t said much about lobbyists or corporate leaders entering his administration to do the bidding of special interests.

The lobbying ban “impacts those who are leaving government, but not those coming in,” said Craig Holman, lobbyist for Public Citizen.

Trump won in part with promises to change the way Washington operates.

But Holman and advocates with the Campaign Legal Center and Common Cause, all of whom are advocating for reforms, caution that much of what Trump wants to do to change the government’s culture requires support from Congress.

And it would mean members of Congress limiting their own time in office and their ability to score to high-paying lobbyist jobs when they leave.

Thus far, Congressional Republicans have sounded less-than-enthusiastic about Trump’s ethics proposals.

“Elections are an effective means of bring about term limits,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, when asked him about Trump’s call for congressional term limits last week. “If voters are sufficiently riled up, they do a very good job of ending the careers of those not doing a good job.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said much the same when speaking to reporters after meeting with Trump at the Capitol last week.

In addition, Trump, in a five-point ethics proposal made during his campaign, has said he will close a loophole in President Barack Obama’s own restrictions.

Obama, after all, made similar overtures as Trump when he took office in 2009. Obama barred political appointees from lobbying the White House after leaving his administration for as long as he is president.

Instead, lobbyists began calling themselves consultants or strategic advisers, said Aaron Scherb, legislative affairs director for Common Cause.

Closing that loophole, however, also needs congressional approval.

So does another Trump proposal, calling on Congress to enact the same five-year lobbying ban for senators, representatives and their staffs when they leave the government. That would extend the current one-year ban for House members and two-year restriction for senators.

Asked about Trump’s proposal for Congress, Cornyn said, “They already have restrictions.”

If Trump has ideas for improvements, he added, “We’ll listen respectfully.”

Spokespeople for a number of Republican senators declined comment or said they were unavailable this week because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Watchdogs say the outcome of Trump’s ethics proposals will depend, in addition to uncertain congressional support, on the details.

Scherb cautioned that Trump hasn’t laid out many specifics. “There isn’t a whole lot of meat on the bones,” he said.

It’s unclear how sweeping Trump’s lobbying ban will be.

Obama’s ban, for instance, only prevents former administration officials from lobbying White House officials, but it does not keep them from lobbying Congress or agencies, where much of the business of government is done.

High-level congressional staff who leave government are not allowed to lobby their former bosses for a year.

When Jeff Dobrozsi, a former staffer for former House Speaker John Boehner, resigned in 2014 to become a lobbyist for Apple, he refrained from lobbying his former boss, a report by the watchdog groups noted Monday.

But he was allowed him to talk to other House Republicans immediately.

Without changes, monied interests that hire connected former officials will have an advantage, said Meredith McGehee, strategic adviser to the Campaign Legal Center.

Trump’s proposed, five-year restriction on lobbying has gotten support from Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., according to his spokeswoman, Jacklin Rhoads.

But Casey and the watchdog groups have raised concerns about lobbyists serving on Trump’s transition team.

Several people mentioned as candidates for top positions also have conflicts. Ex-Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin, for example, is reportedly a finalist to head the Treasury Department, which oversees financial institutions including Goldman Sachs.

Trump transition spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters last week that lobbyists serving during the transition or entering the administration are required to cancel their lobbyist registrations first.

Scherb called that “extremely weak.”

“That merely means that on Monday, you deregister, and start the new job on Tuesday,” he said.

Trump’s ethics proposals have not mentioned whether he intends to renew a number of restrictions instituted by Obama for lobbyists entering the administration. Among those is a two-year ban on former lobbyists handling the same issues they worked on in their former jobs.

Casey and 18 other Senate Democrats, including Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, last week wrote to Trump, criticizing his use of lobbyists during the transition as he names key administration officials. They urged Trump to enact the same restrictions Obama put in placewhen he takes office.

Kery Murakami is the Washington, D.C. reporter for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Contact him at kmurakami@cnhi.com.

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