About Federal Policy Monitor

Federal Policy Monitor is a federal policy intelligence publication. We cover how federal policy actually moves — legislation, agency rulemaking, and the lobbying activity behind both — starting with healthcare and agriculture & food, with more policy areas planned over time.

What we publish

Our work falls into a few categories: explainers on specific federal policy issues, direct answers to the kinds of questions executives and policy staff actually ask, original data drawn from public federal lobbying disclosures, and evergreen guides for organizations engaging in federal advocacy for the first time. Everything we publish links back to its underlying sources — see our methodology for how we handle data specifically.

How we work

See our editorial standards for how we source, fact-check, date, and update our work.

Who publishes this, and how it connects to advocacy services

Federal Policy Monitor is published by Cottonwood Communications; its publisher is Ben Watson, who is responsible for its editorial content. Ben also works professionally in federal advocacy and lobbying in Washington, D.C. We believe readers deserve to know exactly who is behind a publication like this one and how it relates to any commercial services — Federal Policy Monitor’s editorial decisions are made separately from that advocacy work, and inquiries arising from the site may lead to conversations about advocacy services. See our full ownership & disclosure statement for the details.