Here is something the Republican controlled congress never would have considered passing, an ethics bill. The bill, which passed the House 411 to 8, will do the following.....
The House-passed ethics reform bill would:
— Prohibit lobbyists and their clients from giving gifts, including meals and tickets, to senators and their staffs. The House adopted a gift ban in January.
— Require senators and candidates for the Senate or White House to pay charter rates for trips on private planes. House candidates would be barred from accepting trips on private planes.
— Require lobbyists to disclose payments they make to presidential libraries, inaugural committees or organizations controlled by or named for members of Congress.
— Bar lawmakers from attending large parties given in their honor by lobbyists at national political conventions.
— Bar lawmakers and their aides from trying to influence hiring decisions by lobbying firms and others in exchange for political access.
— Deny retirement benefits to members of Congress convicted of bribery, perjury or similar crimes.
The House-passed ethics reform bill would:
— Prohibit lobbyists and their clients from giving gifts, including meals and tickets, to senators and their staffs. The House adopted a gift ban in January.
— Require senators and candidates for the Senate or White House to pay charter rates for trips on private planes. House candidates would be barred from accepting trips on private planes.
— Require lobbyists to disclose payments they make to presidential libraries, inaugural committees or organizations controlled by or named for members of Congress.
— Bar lawmakers from attending large parties given in their honor by lobbyists at national political conventions.
— Bar lawmakers and their aides from trying to influence hiring decisions by lobbying firms and others in exchange for political access.
— Deny retirement benefits to members of Congress convicted of bribery, perjury or similar crimes.
The bill, unfortunately meek in nature, is a good first step in true ethics reform. The bill also puts a band aid on the increasingly popular trend for lawmakers going from representatives to lobbyists for large financial supporters and benefactors of measures the lawmakers have pushed through Congress prior to leaving. The Lawmakers now need to wait two years in order to get the high paying cushy positions their hard work has earned them. This "quid pro quo, get my bill passed and I will hire you" system has greatly paid off for many members of the framers of the prescription drug bill, a bill which prohibits Medicaid from negotiating with the drug companies themselves, such as in the same manner the VA does, which has dramatically reduced the high cost of prescription drugs for the veterans.
The bill still needs to be passed in the Senate, and get signed by the President, whose veto power is nil due to the strong favorable votes this bill has garnered in the house. This bill, watered down as it is, is still better than nothing, and will serve to encourage certain future ethics reform legislation. One has only to open any newspaper for the past ten years to see that this legislation has been long overdue.
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