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Bill Wichterman

Bill Wichterman is a non-lawyer Senior Advisor in Covington’s Public Policy practice.

Prior to joining Covington, Bill served as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and as the President’s personal liaison to the conservative movement.  Before serving in the White House, he held a number of senior staff-level positions on Capitol Hill, including as Policy Advisor to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and Chief of Staff to Congressman Joe Pitts and Congressman Bill Baker.

Bill also has inside experience in congressional and presidential campaigns, including every presidential campaign from 2000 to 2016, usually as a senior advisor. He remains active in national Republican politics.

Bill has more than 35 years of experience in policy-making and is skilled at developing and implementing comprehensive strategies—including the media, opinion-makers, and interest groups—to accomplish the policy goals of his clients. He calls upon his nearly two decades of government service and extensive knowledge of the policy-making and political structures in Washington to counsel Fortune 500 clients in various industries on a wide range of matters related to semiconductor technology, patent policy, trade controls, CFIUS, foreign relations, antitrust, and cybersecurity, among others.

As Congress becomes further embroiled in election-year politics, especially a high-stakes standoff between the White House and the Senate Judiciary Committee over the President’s nomination to the Supreme Court, it appears ever more likely that 114th Congress will end in December 2016 without passing comprehensive patent legislation.  With the House
Continue Reading Senators Introduce VENUE Act as Last Stand on Patent Legislation This Congress

On his way out the door, then-Speaker Boehner did his best to “clean up the barn” for incoming Speaker Paul Ryan. Notably, he negotiated a budget deal with President Obama that, among other things, raised the top-line budget number for the FY 2016 appropriations process. The deal represented a compromise
Continue Reading Appropriations 2016: The Tough Road Ahead for Speaker Ryan