The House That Lobbyists Built
While most people were either focusing on the immigration battle that has unfolded or decided to take a vacation along with the Congress, House Republican leaders were busy stripping the little potentcy that the House proposal had to limit the influence of lobbyists, according to the USA Today article posted late Sunday evening, April 23.
The amended bill was made public when it was conveniently posted on the House Rules Committee website on Friday afternoon, which has been the traditional time to release news and other information that would stir a negative reaction if it made the headlines on a weekday.
This House bill outlines a business-as-usual approach to lobbying "reform."
No changes would be made on the rules allowing members of Congress and their staffs to take gifts from lobbyists. Additionally, USA Today highlighted the differences between the new House proposal and the approved Senate bill.
- Instead of banning gifts from lobbyists to Congressmen and their aides, the House bill would make no changes to the $50 limit. The $49.99 special would remain intact.
- Instead of increasing the time period which former lawmakers are banned from becoming lobbyists to two years, the House bill would make no changes, which currently mandates a one year ban.
- Instead of having all lobbyist-paid trips approved by the ethics committee, which may be an extremely weak provision as it is, the House bill would merely suspend the travel until December 15, conveniently a month after the election.
But never fear! House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) is on the case!
USA Today reported that Boehner said that the House bill will make ties between congressmen and lobbyists more transparent and will "rebuild the trust between Congress and the American public."
The bill would require lobbyists to file reports quarterly, rather than the current policy of filing semiannually. But that won't do anything unless those reports were very easily availiable, media outlets point out the reports, and if there were more rules regulating such activities.
Nice try, Boehner.
If lobbyists somehow felt oppressed by the prospect of this House bill, the lawmakers gave them a few gifts. The revised bill, USA Today reports, dropped several requirements for lobbyists, such as that lobbyists would have to specify which lawmakers and aids they have contacted, disclose their payments for posh parties for congressmen during political conventions, and also report their fundraising for candidates for federal office.
So much for reform. It was a nice idea for the couple of months it lasted.
Unfortunately, it would be hard politically to vote against this bill. The House Republican leadership could attack and state that those who voted against this bill are not interested in reform and love the corruption. On the other hand, voting for the bill will not offer much hope for continued efforts on the matter. Those loving the status quo, Boehner included, will declare the matter closed and state that they proposed and passed reform legislation.
Hopefully, everyone has their backup BS Detector turned on. This one may overload the sensors.
With hope for reform now on life support, the final defense voters have comes this November. Hopefully those voters will remember these tactics for the next six-plus months.
The amended bill was made public when it was conveniently posted on the House Rules Committee website on Friday afternoon, which has been the traditional time to release news and other information that would stir a negative reaction if it made the headlines on a weekday.
This House bill outlines a business-as-usual approach to lobbying "reform."
No changes would be made on the rules allowing members of Congress and their staffs to take gifts from lobbyists. Additionally, USA Today highlighted the differences between the new House proposal and the approved Senate bill.
- Instead of banning gifts from lobbyists to Congressmen and their aides, the House bill would make no changes to the $50 limit. The $49.99 special would remain intact.
- Instead of increasing the time period which former lawmakers are banned from becoming lobbyists to two years, the House bill would make no changes, which currently mandates a one year ban.
- Instead of having all lobbyist-paid trips approved by the ethics committee, which may be an extremely weak provision as it is, the House bill would merely suspend the travel until December 15, conveniently a month after the election.
But never fear! House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) is on the case!
USA Today reported that Boehner said that the House bill will make ties between congressmen and lobbyists more transparent and will "rebuild the trust between Congress and the American public."
The bill would require lobbyists to file reports quarterly, rather than the current policy of filing semiannually. But that won't do anything unless those reports were very easily availiable, media outlets point out the reports, and if there were more rules regulating such activities.
Nice try, Boehner.
If lobbyists somehow felt oppressed by the prospect of this House bill, the lawmakers gave them a few gifts. The revised bill, USA Today reports, dropped several requirements for lobbyists, such as that lobbyists would have to specify which lawmakers and aids they have contacted, disclose their payments for posh parties for congressmen during political conventions, and also report their fundraising for candidates for federal office.
So much for reform. It was a nice idea for the couple of months it lasted.
Unfortunately, it would be hard politically to vote against this bill. The House Republican leadership could attack and state that those who voted against this bill are not interested in reform and love the corruption. On the other hand, voting for the bill will not offer much hope for continued efforts on the matter. Those loving the status quo, Boehner included, will declare the matter closed and state that they proposed and passed reform legislation.
Hopefully, everyone has their backup BS Detector turned on. This one may overload the sensors.
With hope for reform now on life support, the final defense voters have comes this November. Hopefully those voters will remember these tactics for the next six-plus months.
posted by Will at 1:35 AM
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