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Congress Approves Lobbying Overhaul
By David Rogers
Wall Street Journal
August 3, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Congress approved a Democratic ethics and lobbying bill that demands unprecedented disclosure of how lobbyists interact with lawmakers, including the bundling of campaign contributions to gain leverage in shaping legislation.
Months in the making, the measure has been a major priority following the scandals of the previous, Republican-controlled Congress and represents the most ambitious effort to tighten ethics rules in a decade.
Final action came after the Senate swept aside complaints from conservatives that the measure fails to curb the practice of adding spending earmarks to annual appropriations bills for home-state projects and special interests.
Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) returned from his presidential campaign to join the opposition, saying the package left too many loopholes to be an effective check on earmarking. But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky broke with most of his leadership team and backed Democrats on the 80-17 vote to cut off debate.
The wide margins -- together with a math and science education bill that also advanced last night -- offered a rare bipartisan moment.
Mr. Bush had added to the tension by seeming to mock House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for playing down the differences between the congressional and White House budgets. Ms. Pelosi, impatient with Republican stalling of appropriations bills, set off protests on the House floor by expediting action on agriculture and defense measures. Ms. Pelosi argues that the additional spending Congress wants represents about a $22 billion, or 2%, difference with Mr. Bush's budget, and thus compromise should be possible. But at a White House meeting this week, Mr. Bush gave no ground, even though defense officials concede they will need even more than the $141.7 billion to fund war operations after September.
In the Senate ethics debate, conservative opponents of earmarks were energized by the spending debate, and taxpayer groups joined their cause.
The earmarks issue has become an almost theological argument over what constitutes original sin in politics: money from lobbyists or the money lawmakers dole out as part of the government.
It made for some curious alliances, and Mr. McCain's stance put him at odds with many of the public-interest groups that had been with him in past battles over campaign finance. "The earmark process has led to corruption," Mr. McCain argued. But his reform ally Sen. Russell Feingold (D., Wis.) called the bill a "landmark" in promising to change how Congress works.
Democrats have already taken steps to better disclose earmarks and cut their number from the record levels approved under Republican rule. But the new majority shaped the ethics bill to retain some flexibility to help move appropriations bills forward in the face of long debate over often very small items.
"Amendments were made to make the language workable," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.).
"Instead of draining the swamp, this bill gives the alligators new rights," responded Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.). "This bill is a landmark betrayal."
Stephen Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, was more restrained. "There's no doubt we're in a better spot than we were a year ago," he said. "But any kind of backsliding means it's going to be harder going forward."
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