PoliticsDebate elections, political parties and platforms, candidates, and other related topics here. Can't be thin skinned - people will disagree with you. No flaming or personal attacks allowed.
Senate panel OKs lobbying disclosure reforms
By Richard Cowan
The U.S. Senate took a step on Thursday toward imposing new controls on lobbyists following a major lobbying scandal, but a key committee rejected the creation of a public integrity office to monitor Congress.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, by a vote of 16-1, sent to the full Senate a bill requiring lobbyists to disclose contributions to lawmakers and fund-raisers they host. Lobbyists would also have to file itemized expenditures for public officials' travel.
The issue has taken on new urgency with the lobbying scandal of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion stemming from a decade of Washington activity. He is now cooperating with prosecutors in a corruption probe that involves at least one member of Congress.
The bill, which would keep ex-lawmakers from lobbying Congress for two years instead of one, is expected to be debated on the Senate floor next week. It likely will be combined with another bill limiting lobbyists' gifts to lawmakers and discouraging special-interest provisions from being secretly inserted into legislation.
The Senate committee refused to go along with the creation of a congressional Office of Public Integrity that would review ethics allegations against lawmakers and comb through lobbyist disclosure forms.
Senate Ethics Committee Chairman George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican, argued his panel effectively handled ethics cases and there was "no need to reinvent the wheel."
Joan Claybrook, president of the congressional watchdog group Public Citizen, said the Senate bill was "better than nothing because it does have some substantial improvements in it in terms of (lobbying) reporting and disclosure."
But Claybrook said the bill was significantly weakened now that the Office of Public Integrity was dropped, leaving ethics enforcement in the hands of lawmakers. She noted a "breakdown in the House has been disastrous" as the House Ethics Committee had barely functioned over the past year due to political infighting.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record) of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the committee, said he would try to resurrect the integrity office idea next week.
Senators are also likely to fight over a Lieberman provision placing new reporting requirements on grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Other senators are expected to try to require lawmakers to pay for the actual costs of charter flights, often sponsored by corporations, instead of just paying the equivalent of a first-class airline ticket.
The House, where Republicans are at odds with one another over reform measures, is awaiting Senate passage of a lobbying and ethics bill before presenting its own legislation.
(Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan)
Politics
03-02-2006, 20:44
Senate panel OKs lobbying disclosure reforms 
