Senate Votes Delay in Activating New Ethics Rules on Retirement

The Senate voted Friday to delay for 60 days the implementation of ethics regulations that several federal officials have blamed for their decisions to retire early.

The delay, passed by unanimous consent, is expected to go to the House for a vote Monday, said a spokeswoman for Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), who sponsored the measure at the Bush Administration’s request.

The regulations, which would have taken effect Tuesday without the delay, were cited as a reason for this week’s retirement of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s acting chief of the space station program, Thomas L. Moser.

Other NASA officials and officials in other federal agencies have announced their retirements in recent weeks in an effort to avoid being covered by the regulations.

The regulations would prohibit federal contractors from hiring government officials who have supervised their competitors’ projects. The contractors would be subject to fines of up to $1 million and imprisonment of up to five years.

The Administration sought the 60-day delay so employees could be trained in the details of the rules, Glenn’s spokeswoman said. The law was passed in October and draft rules were released in March.

The rules were intended to eliminate the types of problems that have come to light in the Pentagon procurement scandal.