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News :: Crime & Police : Elections & Legislation : Government Secrecy : Political-Economy : Right Wing |
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House Republican Leaders Ignore Public Concerns about Corruption and Lobbying Scandals in Congress |
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by Democracy 21
(No verified email address) |
22 Mar 2006
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In Name of ''Reform,'' Republican Leaders to Pursue Anti-Reform Agenda in Next Few Weeks That Would Gut Campaign Finance Laws and Leave Numerous Lobbying and Ethics Abuses Free to Continue |
WASHINGTON - March 21 - House Republican leaders are preparing to undertake a brazen effort in the next few weeks to gut the nation's campaign finance laws and to pass only cosmetic lobbying and ethics reforms, as their response to the public's deep concerns about the corruption and lobbying scandals in Congress.
Although polls show ''corruption ranked among the concerns most often cited by those polled, with 43 percent telling pollsters it would be an 'extremely important' issue in 2006,'' (CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, January 10, 2006), this appears to be of no interest to House Republican leaders pushing their anti-reform agenda.
Gutting the Campaign Finance Laws
During the two week period between the St. Patrick's Day recess ending on March 27, and the Easter recess beginning on April 7, House Republican leaders are planning to bring legislative proposals to the House floor that would:
*Allow members of Congress and political parties to again use corrupting, unlimited soft money in federal campaigns to buy campaign ads on the Internet. The proposal would ''permit rampant circumvention of the campaign finance laws and foster corruption or the appearance of corruption,'' according to a federal district court (H.R. 1606);
*Allow a single individual to contribute an overall total of more than $4,000,000 to members of Congress and their political parties to influence federal elections in a two-year election cycle (H.R. 1316).
H.R. 1316 repeals the aggregate limit on the total amount that an individual can contribute to all federal candidates and to political parties in a two-year election cycle;
*Allow a President, Senator or Representative to solicit a total of almost $3,000,000 from a single individual for the officeholder's party and the party's federal candidates in a two-year election cycle (H.R. 1316);
*Allow a member of Congress to solicit more than $1,000,000 from a single individual to be spent by the Member and the Member's party to directly support the Member's election in a two-year election cycle (H.R. 1316).
''H.R. 1316, sponsored by Representative Mike Pence (R-IN), would return us to the dark ages of pre-Watergate campaign financing and allow individual donors to contribute huge sums of money to buy influence with members of Congress,'' according to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer.
''Under the Pence bill, a Washington lobbyist, such as convicted criminal Jack Abramoff, or a defense contractor, such as convicted criminal Mitchell Wade of Representative Duke Cunningham infamy, could contribute a million dollars to support the campaign of a Member from whom they were seeking favorable government treatment,'' according to Wertheimer.
''Similarly, H.R. 1606, sponsored by Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), would exempt from the campaign finance laws an entire category of campaign advertising by members of Congress and political parties,'' according to Wertheimer.
''The Hensarling bill would provide an exemption from the laws for Members and parties to again use unlimited, corrupting soft money, provided by corporations, labor unions and wealthy individuals, to buy campaign ads on the Internet,'' Wertheimer stated.
''At the same time, campaign ads purchased by Members and parties on all other forms of media would be subject to the federal campaign finance laws and therefore prohibited from being funded with soft money,'' Wertheimer said.
''This would be an absolutely absurd result and can only be understood as a pure effort to open huge soft money loopholes in the campaign finance laws,'' Wertheimer stated.
Cosmetic Reforms that Leave Lobbying and Ethics Abuses Free to Continue
House Republican leaders are also planning to bring only cosmetic lobbying and ethics reform legislation (H.R. 4975) to the House floor during this period that would do nothing to address numerous lobbying and ethics problems. H.R. 4975 would:
*Provide no reforms to address the scandalous failure of the House Ethics Committee to enforce the House ethics rules, and to even function in 2005;
*Provide no reforms to require public disclosure by lobbyists of the numerous undisclosed ways they solicit and arrange campaign contributions and provide other financial benefits to Members the lobbyists are trying to influence;
*Provide no reforms to prevent corporations from making their company planes available to Members to travel at deeply-discounted costs, thereby providing substantial financial benefits to Members they are trying to influence;
*Provide no reforms to prevent lobbyists, corporations and others from spending $50,000 and $100,000 and more, to finance lavish parties at the party conventions to ''honor'' a Member, thereby providing substantial financial benefits to Members they are trying to influence;
*Provide no reforms to curb the revolving door of Members leaving Congress and lobbying to influence congressional decisions; and
*Provide no reforms to require professional lobbying firms to disclose the huge amounts they are secretly spending to stimulate grassroots lobbying efforts, including multimillion dollar advertising campaigns to influence Congress.
Even in those few areas where House Republican leaders are proposing reforms to address serious problems, the approaches being proposed are highly suspect and unacceptable.
For example, House Republican leaders are proposing to temporarily suspend privately-financed trips for Members through the end of 2006, and to have the discredited House Ethics Committee recommend travel rules for future years by December 15, 2006.
In proposing this temporary ban, the distinct danger exists that as soon as the November 2006 election is held, and the public heat is off, privately-financed trips will again be allowed to take place. This could be combined with a requirement for ''pre-approval'' of such trips by the House Ethics Committee, which has been suggested by opponents of a ban on privately-funded trips as an alternative way to deal with the issue.
The pre-approval approach, however, will not put an end to the privately-financed travel abuses by Members that have occurred, even if there is a credible House Ethics Committee to pre-approve the trips, which there clearly isn't.
Under the approach proposed by House Republican leaders, furthermore, the temporary travel ban could be eliminated after the November elections without House Members ever getting to vote directly on ending the ban or adopting new travel rules. This could happen if changes to the travel rules are simply incorporated into the full package of House rules which will be submitted to the House for a single up-or down vote by Members at the outset of the new Congress in January.
''The current proposal for dealing with privately-financed travel has too much of a 'now you see it, now you don't' potential to it, and therefore is an unacceptable way to deal with the widespread House travel abuses, symbolized by Jack Abramoff's lavishly-funded trips for Members,'' according to Wertheimer.
House Republican leaders also are proposing to address the issue of 527 groups spending money on federal elections without complying with federal campaign finance laws. But they are doing so under a process of incorporating the 527 proposal into the lobbying reform legislation, which could deny Members from having any opportunity to consider alternatives or have a direct up-or-down vote on the 527 legislation.
''Democracy 21 supports 527 reform legislation, but this process, if pursued by House Republican leaders, would be an unfair, undemocratic and unacceptable way to consider legislation to deal with 527 groups,'' Wertheimer stated.
''House Republican leaders have responded to the corruption and lobbying scandals in Congress with legislation designed to mask their unwillingness to change the way lobbyists function in Congress, to give up various financial perks they receive from lobbyists and to establish a credible system to enforce the congressional ethics rules,'' Wertheimer said.
''House Republican leaders also are about to undertake the most brazen effort to eviscerate the nation's campaign finance laws since the Watergate reforms were enacted in 1974,'' according to Wertheimer.
''The spotlight of national attention must be focused on the House during the next few weeks to ensure that citizens are aware and fully informed about the unfolding House battle over the integrity and fairness of our democracy,'' Wertheimer stated.
According to the schedule announced for next week by Majority Leader Boehner, H.R.1606 is scheduled for consideration on the House floor on March 29. According to a March 16 article in The Hill, Majority Leader John Boehner's House floor schedule for the week of April 3 includes H.R. 1316 and H.R. 4975. |
See also:
http://www.democracy21.org%20
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