Congress's Zeal for Lobby Reform Wanes

March 3, 2006 — -- Just a few months ago, when the Jack Abramoff scandal dominated the headlines, members of both parties seemed locked in a lobbying-reform arms race.

Democrats held an elaborately staged event at the Library of Congress to unveil an ethics-reform package. "We intend to change the way Washington works," declared House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Not to be outdone, Republicans had rushed out the day before, announcing their plans for equally tough measures. "We need to reform the rules," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

But lately, that kind of zeal is harder to find. As members get down to the difficult work of actually rewriting the rules that govern lobbying and ethics, they show little appetite for things like travel bans. Instead, they've focused increasingly on making the process more open to scrutiny, looking at such measures as requiring lobbyists to file more frequent disclosure reports and posting those reports on the Internet.

"We ought to put some teeth in existing law, not create more law," said Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, at a Senate committee meeting yesterday.

'No Need to Reinvent the Wheel'

There seems to be a growing consensus behind some changes -- like clamping down on the so-called revolving door by requiring ex-lawmakers and aides to wait two years before lobbying members of Congress.

But this week one Senate committee shot down a proposal that would make it harder for members to travel on corporate jets (the proposal would have forced lawmakers to pay charter fares for those flights instead of the first-class fares they currently pay). And the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs rejected an effort to create an independent office to investigate congressional ethics charges.

"The ethics committee is already doing this," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio. "There's no need to reinvent the wheel."

"I think we're taking steps in response to what has happened that are not thought out," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

Watchdog groups and some lawmakers say the public doesn't trust Congress to police itself and that an independent body is needed to monitor the interactions between Congress and lobbyists. But the proposal was shot down by both Democrats and Republicans in committee. And while supporters say they'll try to revive it when the bill goes to the Senate floor, it clearly faces a lot of hurdles.