Meehan Joins Legislators in Pushing for Lobbying Reform
Lobbyreform
The Eagle-Tribune
Bryan McGonigle
Boston University Washington News Service
Dec. 5
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 – Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday to press for lobbying and earmark reform – a key voter concern in last month’s mid-term elections.
“I don’t think you’d have a Democratic House but for this issue,” Meehan said at a press conference. “So Democrats better recognize the need for reform.”
In a CNN poll taken during the election season, 92 percent of participants said they were concerned about congressional ethics. That percentage was higher than that of those concerned about the economy and the Iraq war.
Points of reform proposed Tuesday included:
— A ban on gifts from lobbyists and organizations that employ lobbyists.
— A requirement that former members of Congress wait two years (instead of the current one year) after leaving office before they may lobby Congress.
— Stronger lobbying disclosure and transparency, including quarterly reports and a publicly accessible online database showing all lobbying activities.
— A requirement that members of Congress pay market value for charter flights and flights on private airplanes.
— A new Office of Public Integrity to offer oversight of lobbying and spending earmarks.
Often called “government pork,” earmarks – additions made by lawmakers to spending bills to benefit specific interests in their states and districts – have been a controversial topic of ethics debate for years.
“The growth in earmark funding during the past 12 years has been staggering,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said at the news conference.
In fiscal year 1994, there were 4,126 earmarks on appropriations bills, according to the Congressional Research Service. In 2005, there were 15,877 earmarks. Funding for earmarks increased from $23 billion in 1994 to $64 billion in 2006, and $30 billion of that increase was in this past year alone.
McCain added that 96 percent of earmarks are written into parts of legislation that cannot be amended.
The proposed Office of Public Integrity would be a nonpartisan group comprising a professional staff – not members of Congress – who would be appointed by the congressional leadership.
The office would investigate non-frivolous complaints of potential ethics violations and present its findings to the Senate Ethics as well as provide guidance to members and their staffs about conduct under House and Senate rules. It also would provide guidance to registered lobbyists on reporting requirements and conduct random audits of reports.
“You cannot have meaningful rules reform and lobbying reform if you don’t have a mechanism for meaningful enforcement,” Meehan said.
Meehan is a longtime advocate of lobbying reform. In 2004, he introduced the Democracy in Congress Act. In 2005, he introduced the Lobbying and Ethics Reform Act in response to the scandals involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Both bills called for tighter restriction, more oversight and more transparency regarding lobbying; neither was passed.
McCain also has called for more transparency in government spending and lobby reform, having co-sponsored the Federal Funding Accounting and Transparency Act earlier this year.
“Despite Abramoff… and other scandals, the status quo remains,” McCain said. “We believe that inaction is unacceptable. We think that same message was sent loud and clear by the voters in November.”
Meehan said he is confident that with Democrats controlling both the House and Senate in the forthcoming 110th Congress, lobby and earmark reform will pass within the first 100 hours of the new Congress.
“Next year, we’ll have an opportunity to get it right,” Meehan said. “Addressing ethics reform is the first order of business for the 110th Congress, and I believe we’re going to make history early on.”
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