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01-03-2007, 09:53 AM
Dems finalize new rules (http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/010307/demrules.html)
House Democrats hurried yesterday to put the finishing touches on ethics reforms that would ban lawmakers and staffers from accepting trips, gifts and meals from lobbyists and prevent the new majority from holding votes open to change the outcome.
Democrats will adopt and then amend the House Rules package tomorrow to ban all travel paid for by lobbyists or organizations that employ lobbyists, require the ethics committee to pre-approve travel paid for by outside groups, enact a total gift ban, and require lawmakers to pay the market cost of flying on a corporate jet, said Democratic staffers and officials with government watchdog groups.
also interesting...
Meanwhile, GOP Reps. Tom Price (Ga.), Eric Cantor (Va.), and Patrick McHenry (N.C.) plan to introduce a resolution next week modeled on legislation that Pelosi introduced in 2004.
Pelosi’s “Minority Bill of Rights” demanded that legislation move through the committee process before reaching the House floor and urged GOP leaders to give lawmakers 24 hours to review legislation before it is considered and voted on by subcommittees or on the House floor.
McHenry expressed concern that excluding Republicans from the legislative process would set a bad precedent. GOP Reps. Buck McKeon (Calif.), Peter King (N.Y.) and Jim McCrery (La.) yesterday urged the Democrats who will chair their committees to conduct hearings on proposals that Democrats will consider in the first 100 legislative hours.
Democrats justified excluding Republicans by saying that the bills had already been discussed in the 109th Congress.
“It is a choice between leading with integrity and leading by force,” McHenry said. “To say they are advocating [fairness] is ludicrous on its face by their opening hours of action.”
Democrats and political observers rejected the GOP proposal, noting that the Republican majority never considered Pelosi’s legislation.
“I think they risk being laughed out of town,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the incoming chairwoman of the Rules Committee.
Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, added, “I don’t blame them in the slightest for picking it up and introducing it, but the chutzpah is quite remarkable.”
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Snipe snipe snipe! Its going to take years to clear the air in Congress. After the way the Dems were treated after the last 12 years I don’t blame them for being a little touchy.
Still, the idea that our elected leaders work for us, not for gifts from lobbyists who work for megacorps, is a HUGE step in the right direction.
House Democrats hurried yesterday to put the finishing touches on ethics reforms that would ban lawmakers and staffers from accepting trips, gifts and meals from lobbyists and prevent the new majority from holding votes open to change the outcome.
Democrats will adopt and then amend the House Rules package tomorrow to ban all travel paid for by lobbyists or organizations that employ lobbyists, require the ethics committee to pre-approve travel paid for by outside groups, enact a total gift ban, and require lawmakers to pay the market cost of flying on a corporate jet, said Democratic staffers and officials with government watchdog groups.
also interesting...
Meanwhile, GOP Reps. Tom Price (Ga.), Eric Cantor (Va.), and Patrick McHenry (N.C.) plan to introduce a resolution next week modeled on legislation that Pelosi introduced in 2004.
Pelosi’s “Minority Bill of Rights” demanded that legislation move through the committee process before reaching the House floor and urged GOP leaders to give lawmakers 24 hours to review legislation before it is considered and voted on by subcommittees or on the House floor.
McHenry expressed concern that excluding Republicans from the legislative process would set a bad precedent. GOP Reps. Buck McKeon (Calif.), Peter King (N.Y.) and Jim McCrery (La.) yesterday urged the Democrats who will chair their committees to conduct hearings on proposals that Democrats will consider in the first 100 legislative hours.
Democrats justified excluding Republicans by saying that the bills had already been discussed in the 109th Congress.
“It is a choice between leading with integrity and leading by force,” McHenry said. “To say they are advocating [fairness] is ludicrous on its face by their opening hours of action.”
Democrats and political observers rejected the GOP proposal, noting that the Republican majority never considered Pelosi’s legislation.
“I think they risk being laughed out of town,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the incoming chairwoman of the Rules Committee.
Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, added, “I don’t blame them in the slightest for picking it up and introducing it, but the chutzpah is quite remarkable.”
----------------------------------------------------------------
Snipe snipe snipe! Its going to take years to clear the air in Congress. After the way the Dems were treated after the last 12 years I don’t blame them for being a little touchy.
Still, the idea that our elected leaders work for us, not for gifts from lobbyists who work for megacorps, is a HUGE step in the right direction.