[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 145 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, earlier today the Senate failed in a second 
attempt to invoke cloture on the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1994. This 
occurred despite a good faith offer to meet the stated concerns of the 
opponents with respect to the provisions on grassroots lobbying. We 
were unable to obtain the necessary unanimous concurrent resolution to 
strike the provisions they said they were concerned about in the 
conference report.
  The outcome of this legislative battle is, of course, deeply 
disappointing. Senator Cohen and I and other members of the 
Governmental Affairs Committee, in particular Chairman Glenn and 
Ranking Republican Roth, have worked long and hard on this legislation. 
The bill was first introduced in early 1992, following a series of 
hearings we held on the problems with lobbying registration laws. We 
held a hearing on that bill, S. 2279, that same year. As a result of 
that hearing, we introduced a revised bill, S. 2766, which was approved 
unanimously by the Oversight Subcommittee on June 16, 1992 and by voice 
vote of the Governmental Affairs Committee on June 25, 1992. The 102d 
Congress adjourned without final action on that bill. Senator Cohen and 
I then reintroduced the Lobbying Disclosure Act early in 1993 with 
Senators Glenn, Roth, Boren, Campbell, McCain, Stevens and DeConcini. 
S. 349 was reported by the Governmental Affairs Committee by voice vote 
on February 25, 1993 and passed the Senate on May 6, 1993, after three 
days of consideration by a vote of 95-2.
  This bill was the product of lengthy and thoughtful deliberations 
which reflected just what the legislative process should be. It was 
only in the final days that the process went terrible awry when the 
largely the same bill that had passed the Senate by a vote of 95-2 was 
sacrificed for political purposes.
  This setback, however, is only temporary, and we will be back early 
in the next Congress.
  I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation and 
admiration for my colleagues and their staffs who contributed so much 
to getting us this far. First, I want to thank my principal sponsor, 
Senator Cohen, for his leadership, commitment and steady support. He 
never wavered in his support of this legislation and in his willingness 
to work to advance it. His advice was always helpful, and his good 
judgment always welcome.
  Second, I want to thank Congressman John Bryant who labored so 
diligently for this bill in the House. He is one of the finest Members 
of Congress with whom I have worked. I value his commitment, his common 
sense, and the ease with which he navigated the challenges we faced.

  I also want to thank Senator Glenn, the Chairman of our Committee, 
and Senator Roth, the Ranking Republican. They provided the leadership 
and support we needed to get this legislation through the Committee and 
onto the Senate floor.
  My appreciation also goes to the Senators who served on the 
Conference Committee--Senators Akaka and Stevens. All five Senators on 
the Conference Committee signed the Conference Report. We had some 
differences of opinion on some of the provisions, but we were able to 
work those differences out with sometimes lively, but largely 
successful, debates.
  Mr. President, the leadership and support of Majority Leader Mitchell 
is also greatly appreciated. He was extraordinarily effective in 
getting this legislation to the floor.
  Of course, Mr. President, the staff representatives of all of these 
Members were key to the progress we did make. My thanks goes to Paul 
Brubaker and Dave Wilby of Senator Cohen's staff; Len Weiss and Brian 
Dettelbach of Senator Glenn's staff; Frank Polk and J.C. Boggs of 
Senator Roth's staff; Paul Drolet and David Naimon of Congressman 
Bryant's staff; Nancy Langley of Senator Akaka's staff; Christine 
Piccone and Pat Raymond of Senator Stevens' staff; and Jim Weber of 
Senator Mitchell's office.
  Finally, Mr. President, I want to thank Peter Levine and Linda 
Gustitus of my subcommittee staff. They brought this issue to my 
attention back in 1989 when we were looking into the contracting and 
lobbying practices of the Wedtech Corporation. When we learned that 
persons who are paid to lobby executive branch agencies aren't required 
under current law to register, we decided to try to change the lobbying 
laws. The more we looked into these laws, the worse the picture became. 
We finally decided that an overall reform was necessary. We started 
with that reform back in 1990, and Peter and Linda pursued this matter 
from beginning to end. They have worked long and hard on this 
legislation, and I sincerely appreciate their effort. We all look 
forward to success next year.
  Their effort has been inspiring. Night after night, week after week, 
Linda devoted precious hours she would have loved to have been spending 
with her husband Bob, and her children R.J. and Sandra, instead to the 
cause of lobbying and gift reform, and Peter, whose wife Mary Ellen is 
expecting a child in but a few months, took untold hours he would have 
loved to be spending with her, and gave them to this cause instead.
  We owe it to our country, first and foremost, to reform lobbying 
disclosure laws and gift laws; we owe it next to this institution and 
to ourselves. But we finally also owe it to our staff and their 
families.

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