House passes weakened lobbying reform

WASHINGTON – Democrats pounded away at the GOP “culture of corruption” as they fought to retake the House from the Republicans over the past two years, decrying “Tom DeLay’s House of Scandal” and promising to clean up the mess left by such figures as lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Mark Foley.

But now that they’ve wrested power from the Republicans, Democrats are struggling to enact the ethics reforms they demanded so adamantly during the campaign.

On Thursday, after months of wrangling, House Democrats managed to pass a stripped-down version of lobbying reform that would shed more light on how lobbyists help finance congressional campaigns. But, bowing to pressure from rank-and-file Democrats, party leaders dropped a proposal that would have required members of Congress and their staffs to wait two years instead of one year to cash in on their government service by taking highly paid lobbying jobs.

Many Democratic House members, as Republicans gleefully point out, are resistant to surrendering the perquisites of power now that they finally enjoy some access to them. In the view of reformers, Democrats have passed the absolute minimum ethics package, and they struggled to do that.

Democratic lawmakers generally have been at odds with party leaders like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who are worried about the electoral fallout should the party fail to meet the expectations its candidates set during the campaign. Despite a fierce behind-the-scenes struggle over the legislation, few members publicly opposed the reform package, which passed by a lopsided 382-37 vote.

The measure now goes to a House-Senate conference committee, which must reconcile differences with a Senate version of the bill before each chamber votes on a final package.

The House legislation would require lobbyists to disclose the campaign contributions they collect and deliver to members of Congress, a routine practice in Washington that political operatives refer to as “bundling.”

Also, in a similarly lopsided vote on companion legislation, the House approved a requirement that members of Congress and their staffs notify the Ethics Committee once they begin negotiations with a private employer over a job and recuse themselves from legislation involving a potential future employer.

Emanuel, who led the House Democrats’ campaign effort last year and urged candidates to attack Republican incumbents for tolerating “a culture of corruption,” praised the reform package for “changing the relationship between lobbyists and legislation.

“Still, the measure did not include some of the key reforms that Democrats advocated during the election campaign, such as extending from one year to two years the waiting period before former members of Congress and their staffs can lobby Congress.

The House package also dropped a provision requiring lobbying firms to disclose when they are hired by a client to organize grass-roots campaigns on behalf of legislation. Such “Astroturf” lobbying falls outside current disclosure rules and has grown into a huge business over the past decade.