Federal Employee Conference Travel

Federal agencies had imposed government-wide caps on how many employees could attend any single outside conference, plus an added pre-approval step for events above a modest registration fee. NANA's position, which the policy team pressed for more than a year, was that the caps were written broadly enough to block routine professional-development travel that had nothing to do with the waste the caps were meant to prevent. A federal code official invited to speak on a panel, or a program officer sent to stay current on a sector's practices, is not the spending problem attendance caps were designed to solve.

The caps mattered most to member associations whose annual meetings depend on federal participation as speakers, panelists, or attendees — bodies like the Council of Regional Airport Managers, whose members work alongside FAA staff, and the National Council of Building Officials, whose meetings have historically drawn federal code officials. Several members reported a confirmed federal co-presenter withdrawing within a week of an event once an agency determined its attendance quota for that conference had been reached by other staff, which is a scheduling failure caused entirely by how the cap was administered.

This issue is now resolved: agencies eased both the attendance cap and the pre-approval fee threshold in March 2025, following a coalition letter NANA organized with associations across transportation, building codes, and public health that regularly host federal speakers. Director of Public Policy Simone Radcliffe led the drafting, using specific member-submitted examples of late federal withdrawals rather than a general objection to the underlying policy.

Associations that build federal participation into panels, keynotes, or working sessions should now find it easier to confirm those speakers well in advance, without the risk of an agency's attendance quota forcing a late cancellation. The eased limits reduce, but do not eliminate, agency approval steps, so lead time still matters when inviting a federal speaker.

With the immediate goal met, NANA is not asking for further rulemaking on this issue. The policy team is monitoring agency guidance to confirm the eased limits hold in practice, and will reopen the file if attendance caps or pre-approval thresholds tighten again in a future budget cycle. Members whose events depend on federal participation are asked to flag any approval friction they still encounter, since that reporting is what will surface a rollback early if one happens.