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Advocacy Blog
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Dems File Long Awaited Lobby Reform Bills, Grassroots Disclosure Not Included
Late Tuesday night, the Democratic leadership in the House filed two lobby reform bills. H.R. 2316, The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, is the main reform vehicle. It does not include grassroots lobbying reform, but does address the revolving door by expanding the "cooling off" period before ex-members of Congress can lobby; require electronic disclosure and public access on a searchable website; and address other ethics issues.
The controversial proposal to require registered lobbyists to report their bundled campaign contributions is in H.R. 2317, sponsored by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). That will likely be offered as an amendment to H.R. 2316.
A Roll Call op-ed by OMB Watch Executive Director Gary Bass notes that grassroots lobby disclosure is likely to be offered as an amendment by Rep. Martin Meehan (D-MA), who has sponsored H.R. 2093 with Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) when the Judiciary Committee considers lobby reform. This meeting is expected to take place May 17, but further delay would not be surprising.
To urge your Representative to support grassroots lobbying disclosure of big money campaigns by hired-gun firms, click here.
Posted by Kay Guinane
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