Lobby Battle Splitting Parties
Roll Call Staff
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House Democratic leaders are preparing to offer the toughest lobbying reform package yet, with a measure that would in some ways be more stringent than other bills offered so far.
On Wednesday, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) and Democratic Caucus Chairman James Clyburn (S.C.) circulated principles of the plan to their Democratic colleagues and asked for their support. Included in the measure will be provisions that force lawmakers to report when they are sponsoring earmarks, require them to pay fair market value for travel on private jets and create an office of public integrity to oversee these and other new lobbying rules.
Details of the plan emerged after a day in which lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol traded barbs, with each party claiming to want a bipartisan solution, but finding no partner across the aisle. Though the House isn’t even in session yet, both chambers of Congress have been absorbed this month by responding to the scandal involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Meanwhile, momentum appears to be growing for reforming the earmarking process. Beyond the new disclosure requirement House Democrats are planning to push, several GOP Senators on Wednesday expressed support for cracking down on the practice. And in an op-ed in today’s issue of Roll Call, the spending chief of the House, Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), laid out a plan for cleaning up the budget process (see Guest Observer, p. 8).
“The next step involves further curbing the appetite to spend by sharply reducing the number of earmarks in annual spending bills and make the appropriations process more open and transparent,” Lewis wrote.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is trying to round up as much bipartisan support as possible for his own plan, said he is adamant that some form of earmark reform be included in the bill as a way to get at the “root cause” of lobbyist corruption. “I’m going to fight as hard as I can to get it in,” said McCain, who added Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) to his plan Wednesday.
Sen. Bob Bennett (Utah), a member of both the GOP leadership and the Appropriations Committee, expressed support for more “transparency” in lobbying reform, but he did not endorse a broad prohibition on earmarks. Bennett said he would support the idea of each earmark being identified with its sponsor and that each one appear in the Congressional Record.
Wednesday’s action kicked off in the Senate, where the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee convened in the morning for its first look at the lobbying reform proposals offered so far. At that event, bipartisanship was the buzzword, as Senators from both parties insisted that only cooperation would yield a solid solution to the systemic problems highlighted by the Abramoff scandal.
As the day wore on, however, the early détente on the politically charged issue began to disappear as both parties dug in their heels over the best way to move forward.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), asked for the two leaders to agree to a bipartisan task force to develop any reforms. But Reid shot back by calling on Frist to instead assign the Homeland Security panel — led by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) — to work on a bill he introduced that has already gathered wide support from Democrats.
“Lobbying and ethics reform should not be a partisan issue,” Frist wrote Reid. “The rules apply equally to every Senator and every staffer, regardless of political party. The rules are bipartisan and the reforms should be bipartisan.”
Reid said that instead of another task force to look into the chamber’s ethics, the bipartisan Senate panel should consider his lobby reform bill, which has attracted 39 Democrats but no Republicans. Among other things, the measure calls for a ban on lobbyist travel and gifts.
With little agreement over how to proceed, it remained unclear Wednesday whether and how the Senate will move ahead.
As one GOP Senate aide characterized the hope of togetherness: “The Republican door is always open about working together on a bipartisan basis, even after Harry tossed a hand grenade into it.”
Across the Capitol, the parties were no more friendly. House Rules Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.), the Member tapped by GOP leadership to lead the chamber’s reform drive, is focusing on the “really good feedback” a spokeswoman said he has received from some Democrats, despite being rebuffed by several.
Among those unwilling to work with Dreier is his panel’s ranking member, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.). She said when the California Republican asked for her help constructing a reform package, she replied, “I don’t see how you people can clean this up. I think it’s our job.
“The people who got us into this swamp are not going to be able to get us out,” she added. “This is, in my view, the worst scandal that has ever fallen on Congress.”
Ron Bonjean, spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), said the Democrats’ position is typical of their “just-say-no obstructionist tactics.”
“For them, it is a partisan political exercise with the hopes of winning in November,” he said.
Despite the partisan rancor, there were a few signs of bipartisanship. Sens. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) teamed up to unveil a bill that would establish an independent commission to examine and report a range of reform proposals.
McCain dismissed that idea as taking too long, but he expressed hope for some new Democratic support on his own measure, indicating that his longtime partner in past reform efforts, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), may eventually come aboard his bill. “Russ and I will work things out. I am confident,” he said.
And in the House, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), himself a partner of McCain’s from the fight to reform campaign finance laws, said that he thinks there is still room for the parties to work together.
“I think there are many Republicans and many Democrats who want to see Congress as a whole clean up its act,” he said.
Paul Kane and Erin P. Billings contributed to this report.
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