Senate Fiscal Hawks To Force Vote on Earmark Disclosure
By Peter Cohn
Congress Daily
April 12, 2007
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and other Senate earmark critics are reviving their quest for additional disclosure requirements as part of the chamber's rules change. In a letter today to Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell, the earmark critics wrote they will seek unanimous consent Tuesday to adopt the rule change. "With this year's appropriation cycle in full swing and other heavily earmarked bills being drafted, the Senate must act quickly to implement this important ethics reform," wrote DeMint, along with GOP Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, John Cornyn of Texas, Michael Enzi of Wyoming and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. DeMint tried to get unanimous consent to adopt the provisions last month, but Democrats objected, he said.
The disclosure requirements sought by the GOP conservatives mirror provisions adopted by the Senate as part of its lobbying and ethics overhaul measure, which passed in January. The vote to include the requirements was unanimous. The House adopted nearly identical earmark disclosure rules as part of a rules package, also passed in January. The two chambers have not met to reconcile ethics legislation, though the House could act on its version in the coming weeks. Since the Senate -- unlike the House -- has not adopted the rules change, members are not required to follow the disclosure rules.
The Senate-passed lobbying bill and House-passed ethics rules require the name of the lawmaker requesting the earmark, the name and address of the intended recipient of the earmark, the purpose of the earmark, and a certification that the requesting senator and his or her spouse have no financial interest in the requested earmark. The information must be posted in searchable form on the Internet. "This is simple information that every senator should be willing to provide the public. Unfortunately, recent events indicate that the new Congress may be less inclined to shine light on the congressional favor factory than it previously claimed," the senators wrote, noting that recent earmark solicitation letters from Senate Appropriations subcommittees do not request all of the information as required by the lobbying bill. Senate Appropriations Chairman Byrd and House Appropriations Chairman Obey have pledged to dramatically reduce the number of earmarks in FY08 spending bills. Implementation of the House ethics rules has caused such confusion, particularly over what constitutes a financial interest, that Obey has extended the earmark request deadline from March 16 to April 27.
