Dana Milbanks from the Washington Post provided some interesting commentary.

The senators yesterday sounded like addicts, powerless to overcome their reliance on lobbyist cash. "It's out of control," lamented Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), a recipient of $573,000 from lobbyists and lawyers over five years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. "We all hate it. And it's about time we collectively think about how we can get off the treadmill."

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 12:46:42 PM



Dreier Moves To Ban Former Members From Floor, Gym
The House this week will kick off the second session of the 109th Congress by kicking lobbyists out of an inner sanctum: the members’ gym.

Rep. David Dreier (R-CA)the chairman of the House Rules Committee, said he will introduce a resolution on Tuesday that would bar former members who were registered lobbyists from the House floor and House gymnasium. The full House would vote on the measure a day later.

Past members already are banned from the chamber if a bill they are lobbying is pending before the full House or any committee.

Former members who are registered lobbyists would be allowed to enter the chamber only on ceremonial occasions, such as Former Member Day.



Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 11:40:21 AM



Lobby Reform Resource
At his website, More Soft Money, Hard Law, Bob Bauer has created a one stop shop for all things lobby reform. Check it out!

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 10:23:52 AM



Scrappy Idealists Take on Congress
Although this is mostly an article about earmarks and "pork", it is an interesting article into the world of the watchdogs.

From the Washington Post: These are dark days for earmarks.

Packing bills with special provisions has long been an honored tradition in Congress, but now a pall has fallen over the practice. Bolstered by a budget crisis and a series of scandals involving legislative favors, an increasingly prolific government watchdog movement is turning "pork" into a four-letter word.

These scrappy outfits are run by small corps of veteran staffers whose offices look more like dorm rooms than the posh K Street suites occupied by their archnemeses: lobbyists. Taxpayers for Common Sense elevated an obscure Alaska highway project into the now-infamous "Bridge to Nowhere." Citizens Against Government Waste started battling runaway Hurricane Katrina spending three days after the storm hit the Gulf Coast.

This is a laudatory article, and one that points out that what the watchdogs do, which is sometimes only seen when something is interesting enough to catch the eye of the public.

A response from Bob Bauer's blog:

These are tax-exempts: they patrol Congress on the look-out for pork and sneaky, expensive earmarks. When abuses are spotted, they complain loudly, publicly, and often effectively. It seems that they are not lobbyists, but "legislative watchdogs." When this debate is over and reforms have been enacted, some will have the good fortune to be "legislative watchdogs." Others will be "lobbyists" or "527s."

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 10:21:52 AM

Monday, January 16, 2006