The Pentagon has quietly asked Congress to reverse key parts of a recent law that tightened the rules governing retired Defense Department officials influencing their former government colleagues on behalf of defense contractors.

Three years ago, Washington enacted a defense authorization law that expanded restrictions on former defense officials’ lobbying.

The new rules were authored by the late Arizona Sen. John McCain. They lengthened from one year to two years the period during which the most senior Pentagon officials were banned, upon leaving office, from lobbying their former colleagues. And the McCain provisions added new limits on whom in the Defense Department former officials could lobby — and how.

In a legislative proposal submitted to Congress with the fiscal 2021 budget request, the Pentagon asked lawmakers to throw out most of the McCain measure.

On Tuesday morning, 15 groups that monitor government spending urged congressional committee leaders to not only keep McCain’s provisions but to strengthen them.