[NYTr] Do-Nothing Dems Did Pass an Ethics/Lobbying Reform Bill

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Public Citizen - Aug 2, 2007
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2493


Aug. 2, 2007

Congress Delivers on Lobbying and Ethics Reforms

Landmark Legislation Awaits the President’s Signature

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Public Citizen heartily applauds the 110th Congress
for delivering on its promise of enacting far-reaching lobbying and
ethics reforms. Today, the Senate, following in the footsteps of the
House of Representatives just two days ago, overwhelming approved S. 1
– the “Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007” – whose bill
number reflects the Senate’s professed priority for this legislation.
The bill now awaits the signature of the president to become the law of
the land.

“This is landmark legislation that addresses head-on the lobbying and
ethics scandals that have engulfed Capitol Hill,” said Laura MacCleery,
director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. “The 110th
Congress deserves praise for recognizing that there is a problem and
for enacting meaningful new regulations on codes governing the conduct
and disclosure of influence-peddling in Washington.”

The new legislation imposes a wide array of lobbying laws and ethics
rules designed to shed light on the potentially corrupting nexus
between lobbyists, money and lawmakers. It also imposes a series of new
ethics restrictions on Congress.

Specifically, the legislation:

 * Requires disclosure on the Internet of lobbyist fundraising for
lawmakers, including the amount of direct campaign contributions and
bundled contributions, who raised them, which lobbyists hosted
fundraising events and how much was raised;

* Prohibits members of Congress from attending lavish parties sponsored
by lobbyists at the national party conventions;

* Requires lobbyists to report their lobbying activities every three
months in an electronic format, to be immediately posted on the
Internet;

* Bans all gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers and their staffs;

* Bans travel junkets for members of Congress by 1) prohibiting any
organization that employs a lobbyist from sponsoring trips for members
longer than one day; 2) requiring pre-approval of all trips; 3)
requiring disclosure of all trips on the Internet; 4) restricting the
use of private corporate jets to fly members around the globe; and 5)
prohibiting lobbyists from going along on any of these trips;

* Requires disclosure of the names of the sponsor and recipient of
earmarks to be posted on the Internet 48 hours before final approval of
appropriations and tax bills, and allows any senator to remove by a
point-of-order challenge an earmark ?air-dropped? into a conference
report; and

* Slows the revolving door between Congress and high-paying lobbying
firms by extending the "cooling-off" period for senators from one year
to two and by requiring all members to publicly disclose any job
negotiations they engage in while serving in Congress.


The House of Representatives approved the legislation on Tuesday by a
vote of 411-8. The Senate vote today was 83-14.

“While this measure is significant, there is always room for
improvement,” said Craig Holman, lobbyist for Public Citizen. “For
example, the revolving door restriction should apply to the House and
Senate equally and include a ban on any lobbying activity, rather than
just lobbying contacts, during the two-year cooling-off period. But the
few weaknesses should in no way distract from the great accomplishments
of this legislation.”

After the president signs the bill into law, Public Citizen will turn
its attention to the next step necessary to clean up Washington: full
public financing of federal elections. Legislation to do this has been
introduced by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

Learn More here:
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/www.cleanupwashington.org/fairelections/