In January, [tag]House[/tag] [tag]GOP[/tag] leaders unveiled a proposal to [tag]reform[/tag] the way Congress does business and, at least on the surface, curtail the influence of [tag]lobbyists[/tag]. The plan was presented at the height of the [tag]Abramoff[/tag] scandal, and was meant to prove that Republicans were serious about cleaning up the mess on the Hill (which they had created).
The proposal was straightforward enough: emphasis on disclosure, new limits on meals and gifts, a ban on lobbyist-sponsored travel, and a curtailed access for former lawmakers who register as lobbyists. There were some loopholes that suggested the House GOP plan may actually be worse than the status quo, but why quibble? [tag]Hastert[/tag] & Co. wanted “[tag]lobbying reform[/tag].”
At least, they used to.
House Republican leaders have quietly scaled back their plan to limit the political influence of lobbyists, dropping proposed requirements that lobbyists disclose which lawmakers and aides they have contacted and how they have raised money for politicians.
The changes were made public in an amended bill posted on the House Rules Committee website Friday while Congress was wrapping up a two-week recess. Even before the latest move, political ethics experts had called the House plan weaker than a lobbying bill the Senate passed last month.
In other words, all that talk from the House GOP about cleaning up the process was hollow before, and when they thought no one was looking, they made it even weaker.
The new-and-not-improved “lobbying reform” measure now leaves untouched existing restrictions on lobbyists’ gifts and meals in place, does nothing to restrict former lawmakers who want to lobby Congress, allows junkets paid for by private interests, and leaves enforcement up to a House Ethics Committee that’s completely dysfunctional.
The House bill is “sleight of hand from a Congress that is more concerned with facing the voters than with facing the problem,” said Gary Kalman of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a government watchdog organization. Added Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause: “They are maintaining the status quo and calling it reform.”
You don’t say.