GOP’s ethics bill survives vote
WASHINGTON – A Republican-backed lobbying overhaul bill narrowly survived Thursday, averting what would have been a stunning blow to the party’s drive to repair the scandal-tarnished reputation of Congress before the fall elections.
The 216-207 House vote to advance debate on the bill came after GOP leaders spent hours urging their own members not to abandon them on the legislation. The turning point came when they persuaded Republican members of the Appropriations Committee to go along with measures in the bill to limit earmarks, or special interest projects. Reps. Butch Otter, R-Idaho, and Cathy McMorris, R-Washington, voted for the measure.
In the end 12 Republicans, mostly lawmakers who thought the bill was too weak, voted against it. Democrats were unanimous in opposition.
Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., the main sponsor of the bill, said the bill would add new transparency to lawmaker-lobbyist relations.
Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, one of the Republicans voting against the resolution, disagreed. “We’re losing our moral authority to lead this place,” said Shays, who, like Democrats, objected to procedures that barred them from offering amendments they said would have strengthened a weak bill.
The rejected amendments included imposing a ban on gifts from lobbyists, creating a new office to oversee ethics violations in the House, and making retiring lawmakers wait longer before becoming lobbyists.
Majority Leader John Boehner said the House would return to the bill next Tuesday.
The debate Thursday followed months of negotiations to craft a lobbying overhaul bill in the wake of the scandals generated by disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif.
The most prominent issue during the day was earmarks, the pet projects that find their way into larger bills, often at the urging of lobbyists. Republican fiscal conservatives demanded greater disclosure of earmark sponsors, while members of the Appropriations Committee objected that the new disclosure rules applied only to appropriation bills, not policy and tax bills.
“After months of scandal and years of deficit spending, we have come to a moment of truth,” said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., a leader of the conservatives.
Republican Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said it wasn’t until five minutes before the vote that he learned that Appropriations Committee leaders would go along with a leadership promise to extend the earmark provisions to all committees when the House and Senate negotiate a final version of the bill.
The House bill requires lobbyists to file quarterly reports on their activities, up from the current twice-a-year reports; suspends all privately funded travel through the end of the year; requires appropriations bills to list earmarks; and takes away the retirement benefits of lawmakers convicted of corruption-related crimes.
The Senate bill, passed last month on a 90-8 vote, goes further in banning gifts and meals from lobbyists. It also requires that lobbyists report on grass-roots lobbying involving the use of phone calls and ads to encourage the public to contact their lawmakers, and extends to two years, up from the current one, the waiting period before a former lawmaker can take a job lobbying Congress.