The U.S. Senate took baby steps this week toward cleaning up the influence-peddling and corruption that plagues Washington, but the changes are weak-kneed and don’t go far enough.
The Senate approved a bill that forces lobbyists to file more public reports about their activities and requires lawmakers to get advance approval for trips paid with private money. Citizens and watchdog groups would be able to pore through the lobbyists’ activities in a searchable Internet database.
The bill also would prohibit former lawmakers and senior aides from lobbying Congress for two years.
The reform package does require more from lobbyists, but not much from lawmakers, who have been all too willing to have their pockets lined by fat-cat lobbyists. And it lacks teeth. Any comprehensive package that aims to clean up Congress needs strong enforcement tools.
There’s plenty of time to toughen up these rules. A House bill likely won’t be heard until the end of April.
The Senate vote, rather appropriately, came just hours after former lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for his role in the fraudulent purchase of a cruise line – a separate scandal from the one that rocked Washington and prompted these proposals. Abramoff in January also pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion. He’s admitted to defrauding clients, and then conspiring with others to bribe some of our highest elected officials.
He is cooperating with federal prosecutors, which leads us to believe this isn’t the end of lobbying reform in Congress. “The good news is there will be more indictments, and we will be revisiting this issue,” Sen. John McCain told The Washington Post. McCain voted against the reforms, calling them “very weak.”
A final ethics reform package should include Colorado Springs Rep. Joel Hefley’s proposal to grant greater investigative powers to the ethics committee while also providing greater protection for committee members and staff. Hefley, bounced from his position as ethics chair after the bipartisan panel admonished Texas Congressman Tom DeLay three times in 2004, knows exactly why that protection is needed.
Leaders like McCain and Hefley need to keep the heat on this issue and push for tougher restrictions on lawmakers, not just lobbyists. That’s the surest way to win back some of the public’s trust.
