Obama Calls on Congressional Leadership to Immediately Pass Meaningful Ethics Reform
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Printable FormatFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington Contact: Robert Gibbs or Tommy Vietor, (202) 228-5511
Illinois Contact: Julian Green (312) 886-3506
Date: February 1, 2006
Obama Calls on Congressional Leadership to Immediately Pass Meaningful Ethics Reform
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today called on the Congressional leadership to immediately pass meaningful ethics reform that will reduce the influence of lobbyists and help end the culture of corruption in Washington.
"In the President's State of the Union address last night, he spoke for forty-six minutes before he finally dedicated less than sixty words to ethics reform," said Senator Obama. "This is unacceptable. We need to prove to the American people that we are committed to reform, and if the President is unwilling to lead on this issue, then Congress must show him the way by passing meaningful reform legislation immediately."
Last week, Senate Democrats introduced the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act to address some of the recent ethical problems that have plagued Washington. This legislation would curb lobbying abuses by closing the revolving door that allows lawmakers and staff to leave their jobs to go lobby without disclosing it to the public. It would require conference committee meetings to be open to the public so that lawmakers can no longer anonymously slip special-interest provisions into legislation in the dead of night. It would stop lobbyists from currying favor with lawmakers by banning gifts and privately funded travel, and it would create an independent Office of Public Integrity to enforce these new rules.
"There is more to these scandals than golf junkets to Scotland or lavish gifts to Republican lawmakers," said Obama. "What's truly offensive about these scandals is that they don't just lead to morally offensive conduct on the part of politicians; they lead to morally offensive legislation that hurts hardworking Americans. Passing meaningful ethics reform legislation is the first step in restoring the American people's faith in a government that should work for them, not just big donors."
Last week, Obama also introduced the Curtailing Lobbyist Effectiveness through Advance Notification, Updates, and Posting Act (CLEAN UP Act) to make the legislative process more transparent and to hold lawmakers more accountable. The legislation would require that all legislation introduced in the Senate, including conference reports, be posted on the Internet 72 hours before it is voted on by the full Senate, including specific projects - or "earmarks" - that under current law are anonymously attached to appropriations bills. Obama's legislation would also require conference committee meetings and deliberations to be open to the public or be televised and would require both chambers of Congress to identify any changes made to conference reports and which member made the change.