[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 74 (Friday, May 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6196-S6198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               POLITICAL REFORM LEGISLATION LONG PAST DUE

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I rise to express my deep concern--and 
even some indignation--that several key pieces of reform legislation 
continue to be bottled up in the Congress, including the gift ban, the 
lobbying reform bill, and tough, sweeping campaign finance reforms. I 
am more convinced than ever that one of the key issues, maybe the root 
issue of American politics, is the way in which we now have to finance 
campaigns. And the sooner we move toward a system where we are able to 
get a lot of the bigger money out of politics and have a level playing 
field for incumbents and challengers and figure out how to do this in a 
sane way, the sooner we will have a much better political system.
  The lobbying disclosure bill, a key piece of legislation that Senator 
Levin has taken important leadership on, is really simple and 
straightforward. But just to summarize, what this legislation says is 
that those who are actually [[Page S6197]] paid to lobby, hired to 
lobby, ought to be officially registered. This is in the spirit of 
accountability. Nobody is pointing the finger at those who lobby, or 
suggesting that somehow constitutional rights for citizens to petition 
our Government should be curtailed. We are simply saying that we ought 
to have openness and accountability in this political process by 
requiring all those who engage in lobbying activities to register.
  But in addition to lobbying registration and campaign finance reform, 
what I want to focus on more specifically, at least for a short time, 
is the gift ban. It is very simple and very straightforward. Americans 
are watching closely to see if the new majority in the Congress 
delivers on its promise of reform. While some of the new Members ran 
for office on reform platforms, so far they have not produced much of 
anything. This should not come as a surprise, because many of those 
same people who talked about reform were the ones who blocked major 
reform last year in each of these areas. I think, toward the end of the 
last Congress--and I will just editorialize on this question--toward 
the end of the last Congress I think the effort to block the gift ban 
reform was more an effort to make sure that Democrats did not get any 
credit for it. It really had nothing to do with the high ground of good 
public policy. I believe the reform promises have rung hollow all along 
and they ring even more hollow today.
  Mr. President, I have an editorial from the Washington Post, I 
believe it was yesterday. I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Washington Post, May 5, 1995]

                           Would-Be Reformers

       ``Three times as many lobbyists are in the streets and 
     corridors of Washington as were here 20 years ago,'' 
     President Clinton declared in his State of the Union address 
     last January. ``The American people look at their capital, 
     and they see a city where the well-connected and the well-
     protected can work the system, but the interests of ordinary 
     citizens are often left out.''
       ``The first duty of our generation is to reestablish 
     integrity and a bond of honesty in the political process,'' 
     said Newt Gingrich in 1990. ``We must punish wrongdoers in 
     politics and government and pass reform laws to clean up the 
     election and lobbying systems. We must ensure that citizen 
     politics defeats money politics.''
       Gosh--if they agree, why has so little happened in this 
     Congress on behalf of political reform? In the grand days of 
     January, Congress took a step forward with a bill requiring 
     the House and Senate to live under many of the same labor and 
     safety laws that are applied to the rest of the country. But 
     the major items that might change the system, such as 
     lobbying reform and new laws regulating campaign fund-raising 
     and spending, have been, well, less than top priorities for 
     either the new Congress or the president. Congress put on a 
     big show over that crowd-pleasing issue, term limits. But a 
     Congress intent on taking steps to restore public confidence 
     does not have to resort to changing the Constitution. Simpler 
     measures are available.
       Simplest of all would be a ban on the various sorts of 
     gifts lobbyists and others can now give, perfectly legally, 
     to members of Congress. The rules covering members of 
     Congress, who write the laws, are much looser than those in 
     the executive branch, which enforces them. It would not take 
     great legislative creativity to write a good bill. A fine 
     proposal nearly passed Congress last year. It would ban all 
     personal gifts from lobbyists and most gifts from non-
     lobbyists, including those famous ``charity'' golf and tennis 
     tournaments through which interest groups can essentially 
     give members of Congress and their families free vacations. A 
     variant of the bill was introduced as an amendment in the 
     Senate, but was voted down with the Republican leadership 
     saying the timing was inopportune. Senate Majority Leader 
     Robert Dole said he'd bring the issue back this month. We'll 
     see.
       A gift ban would not change everything in Washington. It's 
     no substitute for reforming the campaign spending laws. But 
     the ban is right on the merits and would be a potent way for 
     members of Congress to back up their repeated professions 
     that they want to get rid of business as usual in Washington, 
     shake up the system etc. etc. etc.
       In the last Congress, controlled by Democrats, Mr. Clinton 
     failed to speak out forcefully for political reform until it 
     was too late. He had pledged--beginning with that State of 
     the Union speech--to fight hard for reform this time around. 
     We're waiting. With the administration making such an issue 
     of how lobbyists are involved in writing legislation in the 
     new Congress, you'd think the reform issue would be a natural 
     for the president. As for Mr. Gingrich, Mr. Dole and all 
     those Republican freshmen who say they want to change things, 
     they have the majority. Will they make good on their words?

  Mr. WELLSTONE. This editorial in the Washington Post yesterday 
challenged the new congressional majority to enact a number of tough, 
sweeping political reform measures that have been proposed by a number 
of us in Congress but that have been bogged down for a number of years.
  The Post observed in this editorial that the simplest and most 
straightforward of these reforms is legislation to impose a tough, 
sweeping ban on gifts, meals, vacation travel, and other perks--the 
same provisions that were killed at the end of the last Congress.
  This is legislation that I have worked on with Senators Levin, 
Feingold, Lautenberg, and others. Again, the simplest and most 
straightforward of the major items on the real reform agenda, if we are 
serious about not separating the lives we live from the words we speak, 
is legislation that would impose a tough sweeping ban on gifts, meals, 
vacation, travel, and other perks--the same provisions that were killed 
by a Republican-led filibuster in the waning days of the last Congress.
  Mr. President, the President called for lobbying reform and a gift 
ban in his State of the Union Message. But nothing has been put forward 
by my colleagues in the majority. Frozen like deer in the headlights, 
with the exception of the Chair, they refused to move forward on the 
gift ban. Enthusiastic about slashing free or reduced-price school 
lunches, and the Chair is an exception, and I know there are some other 
colleagues that are an exception, but I will hold true that statement I 
am about to make--enthusiastic about slashing free or reduced-price 
lunches for children, reform opponents wither when it comes to 
eliminating free lunches for Members of the Congress. I mean some of 
the same colleagues who do not hesitate to vote to scale back school 
lunch programs are also the ones who voted to continue to allow free 
lunches for themselves.
  I do not think this bitter irony will be lost on the American people. 
I intend to make sure, along with other colleagues, that in a very 
short period of time, as soon as appropriate, we will have this 
amendment out on the floor and we will have full-scale debate and every 
Senator will again be asked to vote on the simple proposition that 
there should be a ban on gifts, meals, vacation travel, and other perks 
from special interests to Members of Congress.
  Mr. President, it is long past time for enactment of the gift ban. 
This bill would significantly change the Washington culture. It is 
larger than just the piece of legislation. People want to believe in 
this political process, and when people read about or find out that 
Senators or Representatives have this interest or that interest pay for 
vacations trips to resorts for a weekend to play golf or tennis or do 
whatever, people find that to be inappropriate. And they are right.
  Mr. President, there is not a one of us that likes across-the-board 
indiscriminate bashing of public service. We would not be here if we 
did not believe in public service. But if you want people to have more 
confidence in the Congress, if you want people to have more confidence 
in this institution, and you want people to have more confidence in 
each individual Member, as a Senator representing our constituents back 
home, then we need to enact this tough gift ban legislation. We have 
delayed for far too long.
  Mr. President, let me go back to this Congress. This legislation was 
killed at the end of the last Congress in the very last days. We then 
brought back the same provisions at the beginning of this session in 
January when we had the Congressional Accountability Act before us and 
we had a vote on the gift ban legislation. At that time, the majority 
leader essentially said that he intended to take up a gift ban bill in 
the next few months, and to have it on the Senate floor in May.
  Mr. President, I remember this because, first of all, Senator Levin, 
myself, Senator Feingold, Senator Lautenberg, all came out to the floor 
and we argued that the congressional accountability bill provided a 
great opportunity for us to impose a comprehensive ban on these special 
interest gifts. That was, we believed, in keeping with the general 
theme of accountability to the citizenry, and not [[Page S6198]] to 
special interests. That was voted down, on a virtually party-line vote.
  At that time, the majority leader indicated that he intended to take 
up this legislation by the end of May, or sometime in May.
  Then I came back with a sense-of-the-Senate resolution which would 
have simply put the Senate on record saying that we will take this up 
by the end of May. That too was voted down. I said, wait a minute. The 
majority leader just said that he intended to do this, so let's put the 
whole Senate on record that by May we will have this legislation back 
on the floor for full consideration. Let us have a vote to affirm what 
the majority leader had just said was his intention, because I just had 
this sort of feeling that people were going to continue to delay and 
delay, as had been done in the past.
  Mr. President, let me just be clear. Now it is May and nothing has 
happened; zero, zippo, nada, nothing has happened. No hearings have 
been held. No bills have been introduced. Nothing to my knowledge on 
the gift ban legislation is scheduled for floor consideration any time 
soon.
  So the question is: Where is the majority party on this issue, where 
are the Republicans with their version of gift reform? Since 37 
Republicans, including the majority leader, already cosponsored at the 
end of last year the same provisions that we offered in January and 
will offer again, as I said, as soon as we have an appropriate vehicle 
on the floor, what changes do they intend to make in this bill? Do they 
intend again, as some did last year--to try to gut the provisions of 
the charitable vacation travel to golf and tennis hot spots like Vail, 
Aspen, Florida, or the Bahamas where Members are wined and dined as 
guests of lobbyists and other special interests? Because, if they 
intend to try to gut those provisions, we intend for there to be a 
major debate. We cannot pass something saying we are not going to take 
gifts with these huge gaping holes and loopholes.
  Do they intend again to try to hollow out gift ban reforms by just 
slightly lowering the thresholds for expensive meals, sports tickets, 
and other gifts paid for by special interests here in Washington so 
that they can say they are for reform? That would be symbolic politics 
at its worst.
  Let me just simply say to you, Mr. President, this is an idea whose 
time has come, and come, and come again. I have been working on this 
for just over 2 years now, and the real standard for gift ban reform is 
a tightened-up bill that Senator Levin and I, Senator Feingold and 
Senator Lautenberg, put forth in January. We will come to the floor and 
we will offer tough gift ban legislation. I believe the overwhelming 
majority of Senators, Democrats and Republicans alike, should support 
it. We really have had extensive bipartisan support in some 
overwhelming votes for this legislation. But each time along the way 
somebody or some group of Senators figures out a way of sidetracking 
it.
  The time is long past due for this reform. I think people in this 
country really are in a reform mood. And any Senator or Representative 
who believes that campaign finance reform or lobby disclosure or gift 
ban is just something that so-called good government groups are 
interested in, they are wrong. People want us to represent them well. 
They want this political process to be open and accountable. And many 
people, too many people, believe, and unfortunately I think they are 
right, that too few people have too much access to Senators and 
Representatives, and too many people, the vast majority of people, are 
left out of the decisionmaking loop, left out of the equation.
  It is really time to get back to this reform agenda and finish up our 
work in this area. There are three critical parts, all of which I 
intend to one way or another help bring to the floor of the Senate for 
debate. One is campaign finance reform. That is fundamental. Another is 
the lobby disclosure, on which Senator Levin has taken a key leadership 
role. The other is the gift ban, where I will continue to work with 
Senators Levin, Lautenberg, Feingold, and others.
  I look forward to that debate. We will have that amendment out here 
on the floor soon and I think people in the country, whether they are 
Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, will hold us accountable.
  I look forward to this debate. I look forward to this vote. I urge my 
colleagues to support our tough, sweeping gift ban legislation. I yield 
the floor.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair, in his capacity as a Senator from 
the State of Vermont, asks unanimous consent that the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded. And without objection, it is so ordered.

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