[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         REGISTERING LOBBYISTS

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, in 3 minutes, let me respond briefly to 
what the Senator from Wyoming had to say.
  First, I say to colleagues, this is not about a piece of legislation 
that says that citizens at the grassroots level have to register as 
lobbyists or that, as a matter of fact, their names will be collected, 
or anything else. That is a smokescreen argument. It is simply not in 
this piece of legislation.
  I hope my colleagues will read this piece of legislation because I 
think, Mr. President, it is a very dangerous game to make these kinds 
of arguments and make these kinds of claims when, in fact, that is not 
what the legislation calls for.
  Second, my distinguished colleague from the State of Wyoming talked 
about the Congress in contempt. Those were his words. I would think 
that what we have to be very, very careful about right now as we vote 
on this piece of legislation is that we understand that people in the 
country want accountability. They think it is inappropriate when, in 
fact, it happens that lobbyists who were doing the lobbying and getting 
paid for the lobbying are not registered. They want to have a clear 
record of that.
  I think the whole effort to do away with some of the paid trips and 
to do away with some of the tickets to games and to do away with some 
of the dinners, and all of that--these are things that people in the 
country have said are inappropriate. And I think most of us in the 
Congress know that this is inappropriate. Most of us in the Senate know 
it is inappropriate. I think the vast majority of Senators understand 
we should just let go of it.
  We do not want to see denigration of public service and people in 
public service. If we did not believe in public service, we would not 
be here.
  But I say to my colleagues, let go of it. We do not need it. It is 
inappropriate. Let us end the practice. That is what this reform bill 
stands for.
  Finally, quite to the contrary of the remarks of our colleague from 
Wyoming, one more time, it is not true that regular citizens have to 
register as lobbyists. If you are getting paid to work for an 
organization and you are doing lobbying, then you shall. That is not 
the issue. This is the issue.
  There is an effort right now to make sure that we do not pass any 
substantive legislation at all, that we do not pass any reform 
legislation. Thus, another filibuster, another filibuster to block the 
U.S. Senate from passing reform legislation which would end some of 
this influence of special interests, which would make our process more 
accountable, and which would justify people to have more faith in our 
process.
  People are not going to believe, Mr. President, in the final product 
if they do not believe in our process. I say to my colleagues, this is 
a reform bill that must not be stopped. And I believe 96 Senators, 
which was about the number we had the last time, should vote for this 
piece of legislation. It is the right thing to do.
  Let us end the smokescreen arguments. Let us get down to the real 
issue. This is reform. This is making Congress work better. We need to 
support this.

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