Stricter rules for lobbying sail through Senate

WASHINGTON – The Senate, prodded by influence-peddling scandals that have given Congress a black eye, voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to deny senators gifts and meals from lobbyists and to tighten lobbyist reporting requirements.

In a 90-8 vote, senators also restricted, but didn’t eliminate, their ability to insert the special-interest provisions, or “earmarks,” that find their way into massive spending bills. Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Larry Craig and Mike Crapo of Idaho voted for the measure; Sen. Patty Murray of Washington did not vote.

Sponsors of the bipartisan legislation praised it for making Senate business more transparent and less susceptible to backroom deals and high-priced wining and dining.

But it has no enforcement mechanism, and its limits on special-interest “earmarks” have a loophole that would exclude millions in targeted spending from its restrictions.

The House of Representatives has yet to act. The Senate could impose several of the provisions, including the ban on gifts and meals, on itself later if the House fails to enact the legislation.

The changes came after two major corruption cases involving lobbyists, contractors and members of Congress.

One former lawmaker, Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., was sentenced this month to more than eight years in prison for accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors in exchange for favors inserted into Pentagon spending bills.

The Senate vote occurred the same day that disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for his role in the fraudulent purchase of a fleet of casino cruise ships.

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said the legislation was “a much tougher bill than I think anyone could have anticipated when we started this process.”

Critics said the bill fell short by keeping enforcement in the hands of the Senate Ethics Committee, a panel that operates largely in secret. The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly defeated a proposal to create an independent office of public integrity to investigate ethics complaints against lawmakers.

“This is nothing to write home about,” said Fred Wertheimer, the president of Democracy 21, a watchdog group. “The argument they seemed to make was ‘trust us.’ “