Honeywell Ends Lobbying Contract With Duberstein Group

The Fortune 100 conglomerate quietly dropped the boutique firm founded by a Reagan-era power broker — as it prepares to split into three companies.

Honeywell International Inc. filed a Honeywell lobbying termination with the Duberstein Group Inc. in a Q1 2026 lobbying report, ending a relationship that dates back to at least 2016. The LDA termination filing, signed May 8, 2025, lists a final payment of $60,000 for the quarter. The termination was effective April 28, 2025.

The move comes as Honeywell — one of Washington's largest corporate lobbying spenders — prepares to break itself into three independent publicly traded companies by late 2026.

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Why the Honeywell Lobbying Termination Matters

The money: Honeywell spent $10.35 million on lobbying in 2024 and $9.31 million in 2023, according to OpenSecrets. It employed 12 outside lobbying firms and 38 lobbyists as of the Fourth Quarter of 2025. The Duberstein Group's $60,000 quarterly fee was a small slice of that operation.

The firm: The Duberstein Group was founded by the late Kenneth Duberstein, who served as White House Chief of Staff under President Reagan and was long considered one of Washington's top Republican-connected lobbyists. The firm reported $9.04 million in revenue and 41 clients in 2025, but operated with just five lobbyists — a boutique shop by K Street standards.

The context for the firm: This Honeywell International lobbying disclosure is notable because the Duberstein Group appears to be winding down broadly. Data from the firm's First Quarter 2026 filings show approximately 19 total filings, of which 16 were terminations. Eight filings reported $0 in income. The firm's only 2026 filing captured in the most recent dataset is the Honeywell termination itself.

When the Duberstein Group first registered to lobby for Honeywell around 2016, it was earning approximately $93,000 per quarter working on energy, tax, and trade issues — all core Honeywell priorities. By the time the relationship ended, that figure had dropped to $60,000.

Other firms in play: Honeywell maintains a large stable of outside lobbying firms. In the past year, the company filed dozens of lobbying disclosure act 2026 and 2025 reports across multiple registrants. At least 25 unique filings were identified for 2025 alone, with quarterly amounts ranging from $10,000 to $90,000 per engagement. Honeywell's in-house government affairs team supplements this outside work, and the company disclosed $2.92 million in total lobbying spending in the Second Quarter of 2025 alone.

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Broader Context: What Honeywell Is Lobbying On — and What's Happening in Congress

Honeywell Government Affairs Priorities

Honeywell's lobbying footprint spans defense, aerospace, trade, energy, tax policy, homeland security, and emerging technology. Its top lobbying issues in 2024 included:

  • Federal budget and appropriations — 11 reports
  • Energy and nuclear power — 9 reports
  • Taxes — 8 reports
  • Trade — 7 reports

Key bills Honeywell lobbied on in the 118th Congress included the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2025 (S.4638) and the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 (H.R. 7024).

Legislative Outcomes

The NDAA for FY2025 was signed into law in December 2024 — but NDAA lobbying is perennial, and the cycle will restart in the 119th Congress. H.R. 7024 passed the House in January 2024 but stalled in the Senate and was never enacted. The tax issues it addressed — R&D expensing, the Child Tax Credit — remain live heading into 2025-2026 negotiations.

Honeywell also lobbies on ongoing regulatory matters that aren't tied to a single bill: aerospace export controls, TCJA implementation, global digital services tax proposals, and classification of aerospace components for export licensing.

None of these issues are resolved. They are perennial or regulatory in nature.

Congressional Mentions

Honeywell has been referenced in multiple congressional hearings over the past year, including testimony related to Department of Defense authorization for FY2025 appropriations and oversight hearings on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's FY2025 budget request. The company was mentioned by both witnesses and members of Congress across these proceedings.

The Corporate Breakup

Perhaps the most relevant backdrop: Honeywell announced in February 2025 that it will separate into three independent companies:

1. Honeywell Automation — industrial automation
2. Honeywell Aerospace — aerospace technology and systems
3. Solstice Advanced Materials — specialty chemicals and sustainability

The separation is expected by the second half of 2026. A corporate restructuring of this scale typically triggers a wholesale review of government affairs strategy, lobbying firm relationships, and PAC operations — as each new entity will need its own Washington presence tailored to its specific regulatory and legislative exposure.

Political Landscape

The return of the Trump administration in January 2025 reshuffled the lobbying landscape. Firms with strong ties to the current administration's inner circle are at a premium. Honeywell's PAC contributions in the 2023-2024 cycle were notably bipartisan — roughly 50 percent to Democrats and 49 percent to Republicans — indicating the company hedges across parties.

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The Bottom Line

The Q1 2026 lobbying report termination filing listed no lobbyists, no specific issues, and no legislation — which is standard for termination filings under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. That means there is limited visibility into exactly which lobbyists at the Duberstein Group were working the Honeywell account or what specific doors they were opening.

What is clear: Honeywell is a $38.5 billion company with $3.9 billion in annual U.S. government sales, massive defense contracts, and lobbying needs that will only grow more complex as it splits into three entities. The Duberstein Group — a five-person boutique firm that appears to be shedding clients across the board — was a small piece of that apparatus.

The data does not show a single replacement firm hired specifically to take over the Duberstein Group's portfolio. But with 12-plus outside firms already on retainer and a corporate breakup underway, Honeywell's government affairs operation is likely being rebuilt from the ground up — not around any one firm, but around three future companies that will each need their own K Street strategy.

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