Government Advocacy & Public Policy

With the complexities and uncertainties inherent in politics, the issues on which Van Ness Feldman’s Government Relations practice serves its clients have never been more complex – or more critical. Our government relations professionals foster and actively participate in an ongoing dialogue with federal agencies and Members of Congress enabling us to quickly identify events and possible issues on the horizon,  and take the necessary measures to prepare our clients for opportunities--helping them navigate potential obstacles. 

The all-encompassing knowledge that Van Ness Feldman offers our clients within our core areas distinguishes the services we provide from many other Washington, DC firms that are solely law firms or solely lobbying firms.  We tailor our work for each client through teams that deliver efficient and creative solutions and support the attainment of our clients’ goals. Our efforts for clients range from targeted issue advocacy to comprehensive Washington, DC representation, including advocacy on issues such as climate change and EPA regulation, clean energy standards, energy efficiency and smart grid, critical infrastructure and cybersecurity, health care, pipeline safety, offshore energy resources, nuclear energy policy, carbon capture and storage, biofuels, access to Alaska’s vast natural resources and energy supply, and others.

Our government relations team regularly monitors, reviews, and analyzes the impact of legislative and regulatory proposals and policies. Our team’s extensive exposure to the workings of Congress and the Executive Branch enables the firm to provide comprehensive day-to-day tracking to our clients, allowing us to provide timely and informative reports pertinent to their interests.

Van Ness Feldman also provides writing and editorial support to our clients in order to draft background and position papers, testimony, correspondence, and legislative language, as necessary.

As federal agencies work to implement the $1.2 trillion in funding provided in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, our federal funding team is positioned to ensure agency decision-makers understand how our client’s projects fit within the federal programs established in the bill and that our clients are in the best possible position to compete for funding awards. We also can and do assist federal agencies in making wise procedural and process decisions about the details of new or existing federal funding programs.

Members of the firm’s nationally recognized government advocacy and public policy practice help clients successfully navigate the unfamiliar and evolving world of federal funding. Over the last decade, the firm has helped clients secure over $3 billion in federal funding through Congressional authorizations; appropriations; member-directed spending; agency-led solicitations; loan guarantees; tax credits; grants; and federal procurement contracts.

Our team represents clients seeking to benefit from programs that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in annual appropriations, as well as billions of dollars in programs that the firm has helped to develop, advocate for, and enact. Our work on behalf of clients includes securing federal support for energy, infrastructure, and transportation projects, as well as for research and the commercialization of innovative energy and environmental technologies.

For more information about our efforts to secure funding through the IIJA, please visit our Federal Funding page. 

VNF Solutions LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Van Ness Feldman, is an experience-rich, bipartisan, consulting firm providing strategic advice, analytical services, and advocacy for clients in the energy, natural resources, agriculture, transportation, disaster preparedness and recovery, healthcare, and aerospace and defense sectors.

Established to better represent clients who seek policy counsel and services outside of a traditional law firm setting, VNF Solutions draws from a diverse team with decades of experience at the highest levels of the federal government and industry, and is distinguished by our ability to integrate expertise from a wide range of disciplines—the result of which produces distinctive pathways and strategies for solving clients’ multifaceted policy challenges.

Our professionals deliver a comprehensive and seamless range of counsel that includes strategic issue consulting, coalition creation and management, technology evaluations, legislative and regulatory impact analyses, land use planning, forecasting disruption, legislative and executive branch lobbying, and strategic communications.

Please visit www.vnfsolutions.com to learn more.

Van Ness Feldman’s federal tax policy practice combines substantive, legislative tax policy acumen with focused experience in energy and environmental policy—allowing the firm to effectively promote clients’ tax issues with legislators, regulators, and decision-makers across the political spectrum.

The federal tax policy practice regularly engages with Members of Congress and their staff, with a primary focus on the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Van Ness Feldman also works closely with key players at the Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service, and, when needed, the White House. Prior experience on Capitol Hill has given the firm’s tax policy practice members a wealth of key contacts with the policymakers and staff that shape federal tax policy.

In the wake of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), our federal tax policy team continues to monitor developments to identify opportunities—and challenges—for clients’ tax issues.  Van Ness Feldman is uniquely situated to work with clients to navigate the new IRA provisions, and helped craft many of the new tax provisions included in the IRA,  including the modifications and updates to Section 45Q - Carbon Sequestration Tax Credit, and the Clean Hydrogen Production/Investment Tax Credit. 

For more information about our tax practice services, contact Michael Platner.