January 5, 2006            

Majority of House Democrats Agree to Co-Sponsor Obey-Frank-Price-Allen House Rules Reform Package
 

A majority of House Democrats have agreed to sponsor a 14-point package to reform House rules. The package, produced by Congressman David Obey (D-WI) , Barney Frank (D-MA), David Price (D-NC), and Tom Allen (D-ME), which first surfaced in the closing days of Congress in December, is designed to weaken lobbyist influence, strengthen fiscal discipline, curb abuses of power, outlaw the use of earmarks to buy votes for questionable legislation, create more time for serious Congressional oversight and prevent last minute legislative items from being slipped into conference reports between the House and Senate without a full public vote by the conference committee.

The House Rules Reform Package would:

Prevent lobbyists from having anything whatsoever to do with paying for, sponsoring, or arranging Congressional travel.

Prevent former members of Congress from using their access to the House floor to lobby.

Increase fiscal discipline by prohibiting any budget reconciliation measures from being considered by the House if it would increase the size of the Federal deficit.

Curb abuses of power by ending the practice of using earmarks to buy votes for questionable legislation and holding votes open long beyond the time required in House rules in order to change the outcome.

Prohibit legislation from being voted on until printed copies have been available for at least 24 hours.


Below are news clips, a detailed explanation of the bill and a copy of the draft resolution containing the reforms, with a list of the cosponsors.


What's being said about the Democratic Reform Package:

"If the House of Representatives were a person, it would be blushing these days. Unfortunately, the House is beyond embarrassment... The place needs a good scrubbing, and that is what it would get if the leadership were somehow to embrace a set of rules changes put forward this week by several longtime members... It is strong medicine -- a stiff enough dose of salts that even a watered-down version would mark a major change in the ethical environment of Capitol Hill. ... something must be done to cleanse the House -- and this points the way." David Broder, The Washington Post , 12/08/05

"Republicans need to steal David Obey and Barney Frank's lobbying-reform ideas..." David Brooks, The New York Times, 01/05/06

"Four House Democrats unveiled a sweeping set of reforms, covering matters ranging from lobbying to the Congressional workweek, that we believe current leaders of both parties should take seriously, in the name of making the chamber both more efficient and more democratic." Editorial, Roll Call, 12/14/05

"Perhaps no one better personifies the current era of congressional politics than Jack Abramoff, the disgraced former lobbyist indicted on conspiracy and fraud charges in August. True, Abramoff exhibited unusual creativity in the combinations and permutations of his ethics-bending strategies... But, as a steady stream of indictments and ever-multiplying investigations has demonstrated, Abramoff's sins were exceptional only in degree, not in kind... Some good ideas for cleaning up this mess have now arrived in the form of a 14-point reform proposal announced last week by a quartet of senior Democratic representatives: Dave Obey of Wisconsin, Barney Frank of Massachusetts, David Price of North Carolina, and Tom Allen of Maine."

Editorial, The New Republic, 12/22/05


Explanation:

AMENDING THE RULES OF THE HOUSE TO PROTECT THE INTEGRITY OF THE INSTITUTION LIMITING INFLUENCE BY LOBBYISTS

1. No member or staff of the House of Representatives may accept travel or lodging or reimbursement for such expenses if he or she has not obtained from the sponsor, and filed with the Clerk of the House, the following declarations:

a. that no lobbyists have been invited to travel, lodge or attend meetings with the Member or staff,

b. that the sponsor does not conduct lobbying activities as defined in section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code,

c. that the sponsor neither employs a registered lobbyist nor contracts for such services nor is it affiliated with such an entity, and

d. that the trip was not financed by a corporation unless through contributions deductible under the Internal Revenue Code and the source of all such contributions are disclosed in the declaration.

2. Any former Member of the House, Cabinet Secretary, or Governor who wishes to exercise the right to be present on the Floor of the House when the House is in session must sign a declaration stating that (1) the House is not debating or voting on an issue on which the person has a financial interest, (2) the person is not a registered lobbyist and (3) the former member will not advocate in any way in behalf of or in opposition to any matter before the House while present on the floor.


FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY


3. A reconciliation measure shall not be in order if it would increase the size of the budget deficit compared to the CBO baseline for the coming or subsequent fiscal years. This rule may be waived only with the consent of the majority and minority leaders and if the House agrees to consider the rule by a 2/3 vote of the House.

4. Close the loophole in current rules under which Budget Act points of order do not apply to unreported legislation. Under present rules, amendments to an unreported measure are subject to Budget Act restrictions but the underlying bill is not.


CURBING ABUSES OF POWER


5. No recorded vote in the House of Representatives or the committee of the Whole House can last longer than 20 minutes without the consent of either both Floor managers or of both Leaders.

6. Amend the House Ethics Code to make it an offense for a Member to condition funding for earmarks requested by another Member on how the requesting Member votes on legislation.

7. Amend the House Ethics Code to make it an offense for any Member to advocate an earmark unless that Member discloses whether he or she either has a financial interest in the entity or exercises any control over it, such as appointing members of the organization's board.

8. If a rule makes in order text that is different from what the committee of jurisdiction has reported, the rule must provide the chairman or ranking minority member, if requested, a preferential amendment - neither divisible nor amendable unless adopted and all necessary points of order waived - to restore the bill (in whole or in part) to its original form.

9. A rule may waive points of order against a measure but only if the rule also waives the same points of order for an amendment if requested by the minority leader or designee.


ENDING 2-DAY WORK WEEKS


10. Before the House can adjourn at the end of a session, the House must have conducted 20 or more weeks with at least one recorded vote or quorum call on at least four of the five calendar work days.


KNOWING WHAT THE HOUSE IS VOTING ON


11. Except for measures on the suspension calendar, the House cannot consider legislation unless printed copies of such legislation have been available to all members of the House for a period of 24 hours. This rule can be waived only if two-thirds of the House votes to consider such a waiver.


FULL AND OPEN DEBATE IN CONFERENCE


12. It shall not be in order for the House to agree to go to conference on a general appropriation bill unless the Senate expresses its differences with the House in the form of numbered amendments.

13. It shall not be in order to consider a conference report unless there has been a formal open meeting of the conference at which all provisions on which the two bodies disagree are open to discussion and the resolution of the differences between the two bodies is approved by a recorded vote of a majority of House appointed conferees. The requirement that the discussion and votes stipulated in this rule must be held in open session may be waived for purposes of national security, but such votes and discussions are required in the executive session of the conference. This rule cannot be waived by majority vote but can be waived by unanimous consent.

14. It shall not be in order to consider any conference report that is materially different from what was agreed to by a majority of House conferees in an open session of the conference and was not part of the final package on which a favorable vote was cast by a majority of House Conferees. This rule cannot be waived by majority vote but can be waived by unanimous consent.

To View PDF version of the draft bill, click here.


 

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