Federal contractors may have to disclose their political contributions as a result of a congressional compromise.

In passing the 2012 appropriations bill in December, Congress agreed to allow President Obama to require disclosure by executive order.

Last spring the White House circulated a draft order that would have required contractors to disclose political contributions at the time they submitted a bid. (SAA, 4/29/11) The congressional language permits the disclosure requirement only after a company has been awarded a contract.

Opponents of disclosure had argued that it would introduce politics into the bidding process if disclosure was required before a contract was awarded. The House voted to prohibit the disclosure requirement altogether, but a House-Senate conference committee adopted the compromise language. The final appropriations bill was approved by both houses of Congress and signed by the president.

The draft executive order was designed to get around the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, which allows third-party groups to run political ads without disclosing the names of contributors. Such groups spent tens of millions of dollars in the 2010 congressional campaigns and have already begun running commercials in advance of this year’s presidential election.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-CA, a leading congressional backer of the disclosure order, said Congress’s action means the president is “free to require disclosure from any company receiving taxpayer dollars. We should all agree that with public dollars come public responsibilities. In the aftermath of the Citizens United decision, it’s even more important for us to stand up for transparency and disclosure.”

As originally written, the draft order would require a contractor and the company’s directors and officers to disclose all contributions of more than $5,000 in one year to political parties, federal candidates and any independent third-party entity trying to influence an election. The information would be made public.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said in April that the president “believes very strongly that taxpayers deserve to know” how federal contractors are spending the money they receive.

The Obama administration has given no indication of when or whether such an executive order might be issued.