Every year about this time, my friend Tom Perić asks me to pen a column laying out what I think may happen in the forthcoming year. Most years I’m comfortable in my assessments, barring anything drastic happening, because Congress only has a limited time to act (and with 2018 being an election year, they have even less) due to the setting of the regulatory calendar for planned actions.
As you may imagine, what has been the norm in Washington in the past is no longer the case. For folks in my line of work, this has been frustrating. Most lobbyists (many prefer the term government affairs professionals, but I am nothing if not a man of the people) know that a primary job duty is to make sure bad stuff doesn’t happen. Every now and then, you get the chance to make something good happen, but above all, you should always know what is happening. Quite simply, that has become more and more challenging.