No Surprises
The House managed to pass its version of an ethics bill after a rough week of rewrites and negotiations. Any resemblance to true ethics reform is purely accidental, and that certainly is no surprise. An article in the NY Times highlighted the main provisions.
The new bill would require lobbyists to disclose more of their activities, increase financial penalties for violations and require lawmakers and their aides to attend ethics training.
It also aims to discourage earmarks by requiring House members who write spending bills to disclose them, a move lauded by fiscal conservatives who complain that earmarks waste taxpayer money and drive up the cost of legislation.
But the measure falls short of what Republican leaders promised after the scandal involving the lobbyist Jack Abramoff rocked the Capitol in January. The chief Republican architect of the bill, Representative David Dreier of California, the House Rules Committee chairman, conceded that he wished that the measure "were stronger than it is."
...Unlike the measure approved by the Senate, the bill does not address the "revolving door," the Capitol Hill term for lawmakers and aides who leave Congress to become lobbyists. The Senate bill aims to rein in that practice by requiring lawmakers and senior aides to refrain from lobbying former colleagues for two years, instead of the current one year. [Emphasis added]
There is no provision forbidding the use of corporate jets. In fact, there does not appear to be any provision forbidding House members from anything. Lobbyists are now required to do a little reporting, but that's about it. Republicans managed to delay any reform at all by simply waiting for all the hoopla surrounding the Abramoff scandal to die down a little, and managed to get a bill passed far enough in advance of the November elections that Democratic criticism of this shoddy effort will be stale news.
Ethics reform?
It is to laugh.
The new bill would require lobbyists to disclose more of their activities, increase financial penalties for violations and require lawmakers and their aides to attend ethics training.
It also aims to discourage earmarks by requiring House members who write spending bills to disclose them, a move lauded by fiscal conservatives who complain that earmarks waste taxpayer money and drive up the cost of legislation.
But the measure falls short of what Republican leaders promised after the scandal involving the lobbyist Jack Abramoff rocked the Capitol in January. The chief Republican architect of the bill, Representative David Dreier of California, the House Rules Committee chairman, conceded that he wished that the measure "were stronger than it is."
...Unlike the measure approved by the Senate, the bill does not address the "revolving door," the Capitol Hill term for lawmakers and aides who leave Congress to become lobbyists. The Senate bill aims to rein in that practice by requiring lawmakers and senior aides to refrain from lobbying former colleagues for two years, instead of the current one year. [Emphasis added]
There is no provision forbidding the use of corporate jets. In fact, there does not appear to be any provision forbidding House members from anything. Lobbyists are now required to do a little reporting, but that's about it. Republicans managed to delay any reform at all by simply waiting for all the hoopla surrounding the Abramoff scandal to die down a little, and managed to get a bill passed far enough in advance of the November elections that Democratic criticism of this shoddy effort will be stale news.
Ethics reform?
It is to laugh.
posted by Diane at 3:36 AM
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