After Congress passed the $900 billion stimulus package in February 2009, the Obama administration implemented new restrictions on lobbyist communications with executive branch officials in an effort to reduce the influence of special interests.

So when the health care bill passed in March, K Street wondered if the administration would create another set of rules on lobbyists working on its implementation. The answer is no, according to Nancy-Ann DeParle, head of the White House Office of Health Reform.

"Everything we are doing now, in the regulatory process and under the administrative procedures act, there are [already] rules about communication and stakeholders," said DeParle. " So we can use that [and] there is no need for a new set of rules on how lobbyists communicate with the agency."

The strictures on stimulus-related lobbying caused controversy last year and met with opposition from both the adminstration's critics and allies, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the AFL-CIO. Perhaps the White House didn't want to get into yet another battle with its friends.

It may also be that the architect of the stimulus lobbying rules, White House special ethics adviser Norm Eisen, has been having to keep a low profile. Eisen is expected to be nominated soon to become ambassador to the Czech Republic.