Friday, January 19, 2007

Senate Passes Ethics and Lobbying Reform Package

Late last night, the Senate passed S. 1 by a 96-2 vote, after a deal was struck between Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) to allow Gregg's non-germane presidential line-item or 'enhanced recission' authority amendment to be brought up next week during the Senate debate on the minimum wage. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, who appeared willing to hold S. 1 hostage so long as any accommodation of Gregg's amendment was made, dropped his objections and permitted a vote on S. 1.

This bill is both a significant institutional reform, affecting Senate procedure, as well as a major expansion of lobbying restrictions. Reid -- waxing proud after amendments he had resisted were adopted, adding teeth to his bill, and the Gregg/Byrd impasse that threatened to kill it had been resolved -- said:

This is the toughest reform bill in the history of this body as relates to ethics and lobbying, so everyone here tonight, when they vote on this, should vote proudly. This is historic.

The bill as introduced and amended includes a diversity of provisions.

Key earmarks provisions:

• requires disclosure of earmarks once those earmarks are adopted into a bill at the committee level (the committee is required to disclose the sponsoring lawmaker, the intended recipient, the earmark’s purpose, and include a certification that it will not yield a financial benefit to the sponsor or that lawmaker’s family; this information must be made available online in a searchable format)
• creates a point of order against bills that do not identify the sponsors of earmarks as required
• requires disclosure of earmarks contained in the reports accompanying bills and conference agreements and those, such as purchases of defense systems, that would pass through private entities before benefiting the federal government
• creates a point of order against bills that do not identify the sponsors of earmarks
• earmark definition includes any tax expenditure that provides a tax deduction, credit, exclusion, or preference to 10 or fewer beneficiaries
• prevents lawmakers’ families from being the beneficiaries of earmarks
• requires disclosure of earmarks again, 48 hours before the bill is brought to the floor

Key Senate ethics provisions:

• bans senators and their staff from accepting meals, gifts and trips from lobbyists
• prohibits senators from negotiating for private-sector jobs while still in office
• allows Section 501c(3) charitable organizations to have wider latitude in sponsoring trips, if the trips are approved by the Senate Ethics Committee privately sponsored travel

Key lobbying provisions:

• establishes a database of lobbyists’ contacts and activities
• forces lobbyists to certify that they have complied with the gift ban
• clamps down on parties funded by lobbyists at the national political conventions to "honor" lawmakers
• prohibits the husbands and wives of senators from lobbying the Senate unless they were employed as lobbyists for at least one year before their spouse’s election

The House has not passed any changes to lobbying law, so a conference committee is unlikely to convene any time soon.