If there’s one area of legislation that members of Congress have more difficulty with than any other, it’s creating stringent ethics rules to govern their own actions. Yet according to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Caucus chair Rahm Emanuel, their long-awaited ethics and lobbying reform package will make it through the House by the end of May.
WaPo blogger Paul Kane commented earlier this week on the proposed reforms:
Emanuel said the House would have a bill on the floor "in short order," possibly next week. There are still several issues that members are resisting: forcing firms to reveal how much in campaign donations they bundle from their lobbyists and clients to lawmakers; disclosure by public relations firms of grassroots efforts at lobbying that doesn't involve direct contact with Congress and therefore isn't currently disclosed; and an extension of the cooling-off period forbidding members and senior staff from lobbying on Capitol Hill.
Ironically, the main sources of disagreement in the House cited by Kane are the same provisions that public interest groups have agreed are necessary. According to CQ Today, new revolving-door restrictions in particular may face House attempts to weaken them, despite the fact that the Senate has already approved tough language in January:
The Senate has endorsed rules that would require members of Congress to wait two years before directly lobbying their former colleagues, and House leaders have indicated their support. But the Senate bill went further, prohibiting any lobbying “activity,” meaning that former members would not be able to even help lobbying shops influence legislation during the period in which they were refraining from making contacts themselves.
Some House members have balked at the stricter definition, saying it would prevent them from being employed at a lobbying office or law firm even if they did no direct lobbying, according to Democratic House aides involved with the legislation. “Members are pushing back on this . . . It may not be in the House bill,” said Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the watchdog group Public Citizen, who has helped Democratic staff craft the legislation.
Nevertheless, stricter revolving-door rules are much needed, as emphasized this week by former House committee staffer Mark Zachares’s guilty plea for corruption related to the Abramoff scandal. Public Citizen’s online site dedicated to congressional ethics reform also provides information (pdf) on why the new revolving-door provisions are necessary.
Assuming that the Democratic majority lives up to its promises, voters will be able to breathe a sigh of relief on Memorial Day and reflect on how the “culture of corruption” days in Congress are over. Now let’s see it happen.
-- John Pruett
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