Mission Accomplished

To get a sense of what the House of Representatives has done this month, you have to understand that for the past six years, this would have been a year's worth of initiatives. In the last couple days, not only did a bill pass cutting student loan rates in half (called a "first step' at making college more accessible), not only did they get a bill cutting corporate welfare to the oil companies through (which is seriously unprecedented, to defy a lobby that powerful), but even the Senate got into the act. After Republicans sought to block an ethics and lobbying reform bill, and got the attendant bad publicity for using their first fillibuster to preserve the culture of corruption, a compromise was reached and the final bill passed 96-2.

The ethics and lobbying legislation would:

_Bar lawmakers from accepting gifts and travel and lodging paid for by lobbyists.

_Extend from one to two years the time a former member must wait before he can engage in lobbying activities.

_Deny pensions to lawmakers convicted of serious crimes.

_Require more reporting by lobbyists on their activities.

_Require public disclosure of those home-state projects.

_Require senators hitching rides on private jets to pay full charter rates rather than the current practice of paying the far cheaper equivalent of a first class ticket.

_Require reporting by lobbyists who obtain small donations from clients and then "bundle" them into larger contributions to politicians.

_Prevent spouses of sitting members from lobbying the Senate.

I love that you can always find 2 Republicans AGAINST that kind of stuff. In this case, Tom Coburn and Orrin Hatch. Coburn, no doubt, thought the earmark stuff didn't go far enough. Hatch, I'm assuming, loves to play golf.

The deal was brokered when Harry Reid agreed to allow Republicans to bring up an amendment on a line-item veto in the mext bill (probably the minimum wage bill). I thought that the line-item




The Senate, on a 55-43 vote, approved an amendment pushed by Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, to strip a provision requiring reporting of "grass-roots" lobbying.

Backers said it would shine light on special interest groups that use "hired guns" to organize mass mailings, phone-ins or e-mail campaigns. Opponents, including the American Civil Liberties Union and conservative groups such as the Traditional Values Coalition, argued that it was a free speech issue, discouraging people or groups from organizing petition drives.

The Senate also defeated, for the second straight year, a proposal to create an Office of Public Integrity to take over some of the investigative duties of the ethics committee. Supporters said the public, in the wake of scandals involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Rep. Mark Foley, suspected the ability of lawmakers to police themselves. The vote against the new office was 71-27.

Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, part of a coalition of groups pressing for lobbying reform, said the groups were disappointed with the votes on grass-roots lobbying and the Office of Public Integrity. But he said the bill responded to the "deep concerns of the American people about corruption and ethics problems in Congress" and "will change the way business is done in the Senate." I thought that the line-item veto was ruled unconstitutional in 1998, but for some reason this keeps coming up over and over again. I'm dubious of anything giving MORE power to the executive at this point. The balance of power is already tipped to far in that direction.

So these are major pieces of legislation that have been passed, and while Congress is also focused on Iraq and climate change and oversight and a whole host of other things, they ended up keeping their promise. Showing a government that works is one of the greatest hurdles that the Democratic majority needed to overcome. This is a great way to start.