House passes tighter lobbying rules

WASHINGTON – The House narrowly approved ethics legislation Wednesday that would expand the amount of information that lobbyists must disclose about their interactions with lawmakers and would also rein in big-money political committees, which spent heavily in the last presidential election.

By a vote of 217 to 213, the House agreed to require lobbyists to file quarterly instead of semiannual reports, to include in those reports donations they give to federal candidates and political action committees, and to make public gifts that they give to lawmakers or congressional aides.

In addition, spending bills would have to list any narrow-interest projects, called earmarks, that they contain, as well as the sponsors of those projects. Lawmakers have frequently been able to insert these projects in major spending bills anonymously, without offering any justification.

The House measure must be reconciled with a version of the bill that passed the Senate in March. Neither version is as tough on lobbyists and lawmakers as Republican leaders promised in January, after former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe public officials in a major political corruption scandal.

The final version of the legislation will be a combination of statutory changes and changes in the rules governing House and Senate members, but not all the rules need apply to both chambers. Rules that govern the gifts and travel expenses that lobbyists are allowed to give to lawmakers can be different for the House and for the Senate. Each chamber is responsible for setting the rules for the conduct of its lawmakers and staff members.

After disclosure that Abramoff had influenced lawmakers and other officials with expensive meals, overseas trips and other favors, Republican leaders initially called for severe restrictions on meals and travel as a way to distance lawmakers from lobbyists and to shield themselves from voter anger .

But in the ensuing months, Senate and House leaders watered down their legislation and have endorsed bills that would rely mostly on enhancing disclosure requirements, rather than beefing up enforcement of lobbying rules or proscribing lawmakers’ behavior.

Government watchdog groups complain that the legislation passed by the House would be particularly ineffective in transforming Washington’s lobbying culture. Joan Claybrook, president of the liberal group Public Citizen, said the measure is “a fraud on the American public.”