Lobbying and Rules Reform

LOBBYING AND RULES REFORM

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, let me begin my comments by commending the Senator from Mississippi for his excellent statement. The Senator from Mississippi deserves great credit for working with his ranking member, Senator Dodd, to craft a lobbying reform and disclosure bill on the provisions that were under the Rules Committee jurisdiction. Similarly, I worked very closely with the ranking Democrat on the homeland security committee to come up with a bipartisan bill that reflects issues that are under the jurisdiction of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The result is a strong bill. We have married the bills reported by the two committees on the Senate floor. We have produced legislation that I think would help to restore the public's confidence in the integrity of the decisions that we make in Washington. Some may ask: Why does this matter? Why should we enact lobbying disclosure and reform legislation? The reason is, if the public does not trust us to make decisions that are not tainted by undue influence from special interests, then we will not, as a Congress, be able to tackle the major issues facing our country. If the bonds of trust between those we represent and public officials are so frayed, then we are not going to be able to make the tough decisions, the hard choices that are necessary when tackling the big issues and challenges that confront our country.

The issues before the Senate in this bill are pressing and serious. Recent scandals involving Jack Abramoff and former Representative Duke Cunningham have brought to light the need for Congress to reevaluate practices that, although legal, raise questions about the integrity of decisions that are made or at least create the appearance of conflicts of interest and undue influence. We need to ban practices that erode the public's confidence in the integrity of Government's decisions. We need to have greater disclosure of the amount of money spent on lobbying and how it is spent. I think sunlight is the best disinfectant in many cases, and providing and requiring greater disclosure will make a real difference.

All of us here today recognize that lobbying, whether done on behalf of a business organization, an environmental cause, a children's advocacy group, an educational institution or any other cause can provide us with very useful information that does not dictate but does aid our decisionmaking process. We should remember that lobbying actually has a noble history. The word comes to us from Great Britain when individuals would gather in the lobby of Parliament in order to talk to members, and the medium of exchange was ideas and not favors.

Today, unfortunately, the word ``lobbying'' too often conjures up imagesÐ of all-expense-paid vacations masquerading as factfinding trips, special access that the average citizen can never have, and undue influence that leads to decisions not being made in the public interest. The corrosive effect of that image on the public's confidence in the decisions that we make cannot be underestimated.

We in Congress have an obligation to strengthen that crucial bond of trust between those in Government and those whom Government serves. This legislation is a significant step in that direction, and we need to pass it promptly, without delay.

As my colleague, the Senator from Mississippi, has mentioned, there are some 77 amendments that have been filed to this bill. Many of them have nothing to do with lobbying or ethics reform. Others only have a very tangential connection. If we are serious about delivering lobbying reform legislation, if we believe that we need to clean up questionable practices, if we want to restore that bond of trust between the public and its elected officials, then we should move forward with this legislation without delay, without extraneous amendments that have nothing to do with the issue before us. We can do this bill with a good day of hard work.

I thank the majority leader for bringing up the bill again, for recognizing its importance, and for working with the four managers of the bill to try to find a path forward. But we need cooperation from our colleagues and from the leaders on the other side of the aisle if we are going to be successful in doing so. I am convinced, as is the distinguished chairman of the Rules Committee, that in a day's time we can complete action on this bill and be on our way to conference with the House if we have a little cooperation from our colleagues.

Let's not fail this test. Let's not fail to get this job done. This matters. It matters because if we do not have the support of the American people, the trust and confidence of the American people, then we cannot tackle the major issues facing this country.

This bill would be a significant step forward in repairing the frayed bonds between the American people and their Government at a time when surveys indicate that trust in Congress is perilously low.

I hope we can come together. This is a bipartisan effort. Senator Santorum convened a bipartisan task force that has worked very hard and gave rise to many of the bipartisan principles upon which this bill is based. Let us work together on both sides of the aisle. We have bipartisan support. With the ranking Democrats, Senator Lieberman and Senator Dodd, with the two chairmen, Senator Lott and myself, we can get this job done.

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