Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jan 5, 2007 15:49:50 GMT -6
Yesterday's Washington Post article by Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey Birnbaum, titled:
House "Democrats Prepare To Tighten Lobbyist Rules", provided insight into the new proposals for lobbying reform. Below are some selected quotes that describe the major points:
"In their first act as the House majority, Democrats today will introduce a package of rule changes to ban gifts and trips from
lobbyists, restrict privately funded junkets and begin to sever the cozy relations between lobbyists and lawmakers that scandalized the last Congress....
The changes would prohibit House members or employees from knowingly accepting gifts or travel from a registered lobbyist, foreign agent or lobbyist's client. Lawmakers could no longer fly on corporate jets. In addition, congressional travel financed by outside groups would have to be preapproved by the ethics committee and immediately disclosed to the public....
Votes could no longer be held open indefinitely while leaders twist arms to win the outcome they want. Lawmakers in both parties would have to be notified before final legislative negotiations begin between the House and Senate. Those negotiations would largely have to be held in public, and once they were complete, changes could not be slipped into legislative agreements in the dead of night....
Parliamentary rules approved in 1974 to block Senate filibusters on bills that raise taxes or cut entitlement spending could no longer be used to cut taxes and increase the deficit, as Republicans did several times. Under the new rules, any law that cuts taxes or increases spending would have to be offset by tax increases or spending cuts....
Special-interest or home-district pet projects -- known as earmarks -- would have to be claimed by their sponsors, who would have to spell out who benefits. That measure would apply not only to spending bills but also to tax measures and policy legislation, which in recent years have been larded with narrowly targeted provisions...."
Unfortunately, the new proposals would have little effect on lobbyists contributions to political campaigns themselves. As stated later in the article:
"Lobbyists and their clients would continue to fete lawmakers at restaurants, sporting events and faraway resorts as long as those events are part of campaign fundraisers. Campaign finance laws, which are distinct from House rules, permit outsiders to provide all manner of benefits to lawmakers as long as those benefits are accompanied by checks written to the lawmakers' reelection coffers...."
House "Democrats Prepare To Tighten Lobbyist Rules", provided insight into the new proposals for lobbying reform. Below are some selected quotes that describe the major points:
"In their first act as the House majority, Democrats today will introduce a package of rule changes to ban gifts and trips from
lobbyists, restrict privately funded junkets and begin to sever the cozy relations between lobbyists and lawmakers that scandalized the last Congress....
The changes would prohibit House members or employees from knowingly accepting gifts or travel from a registered lobbyist, foreign agent or lobbyist's client. Lawmakers could no longer fly on corporate jets. In addition, congressional travel financed by outside groups would have to be preapproved by the ethics committee and immediately disclosed to the public....
Votes could no longer be held open indefinitely while leaders twist arms to win the outcome they want. Lawmakers in both parties would have to be notified before final legislative negotiations begin between the House and Senate. Those negotiations would largely have to be held in public, and once they were complete, changes could not be slipped into legislative agreements in the dead of night....
Parliamentary rules approved in 1974 to block Senate filibusters on bills that raise taxes or cut entitlement spending could no longer be used to cut taxes and increase the deficit, as Republicans did several times. Under the new rules, any law that cuts taxes or increases spending would have to be offset by tax increases or spending cuts....
Special-interest or home-district pet projects -- known as earmarks -- would have to be claimed by their sponsors, who would have to spell out who benefits. That measure would apply not only to spending bills but also to tax measures and policy legislation, which in recent years have been larded with narrowly targeted provisions...."
Unfortunately, the new proposals would have little effect on lobbyists contributions to political campaigns themselves. As stated later in the article:
"Lobbyists and their clients would continue to fete lawmakers at restaurants, sporting events and faraway resorts as long as those events are part of campaign fundraisers. Campaign finance laws, which are distinct from House rules, permit outsiders to provide all manner of benefits to lawmakers as long as those benefits are accompanied by checks written to the lawmakers' reelection coffers...."