[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 43 (Thursday, April 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3216-S3217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LEAHY:
  S. 2559. A bill to make it illegal for anyone to defraud and deprive 
the American people of the right to the honest services of a Member of 
Congress and to instill greater public confidence in the United States 
Congress; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce the ``Honest 
Services Act of 2006,''--a bill to provide new tools for Federal 
prosecutors to combat public corruption in our government. The purpose 
of this bill is to strengthen the tools available to Federal 
prosecutors to combat public corruption. This bill articulates more 
clearly for lobbyists, members of Congress, and Congressional staff the 
line that cannot be crossed regarding links between gifts or special 
favors and official acts, without incurring criminal liability.
  Just recently, the Senate passed the Legislative Transparency and 
Accountability Act of 2006, S. 2349--the first lobbying reform bill in 
Congress in over a decade. I voted for the lobbying reform bill and I 
believe that this legislation takes an important step toward restoring 
the public's confidence in Congress.
  I was disappointed, however, that I did not have an opportunity to 
offer the bill that I now propose as an amendment to the lobbying 
reform bill because cloture was invoked very early in the floor debate. 
My amendment would have offered an important and needed new dimension 
to the lobbying reform bill by strengthening our criminal public 
corruption laws.
  Although it is certainly important to have high ethical standards 
within Congress and more transparency in the lobbying process, vigorous 
enforcement of our Federal public corruption laws is also an important 
component of this effort to restore public confidence in government. 
Indeed, it was only with the indictments of Jack Abramoff, Michael 
Scanlon, and Randy ``Duke'' Cunningham that Congress took note of the 
serious ethics scandals that have grown over the last years. If we are 
serious about restoring public confidence in Congress, we need to do 
more than just reform the lobbying disclosure laws and ethics rules. 
Congress must send a signal that it will not tolerate this type of 
public corruption by providing better tools Federal prosecutors to 
combat it.
  This bill will do exactly that. The bill creates a better legal 
framework for combating public corruption than currently exists under 
our criminal laws. It specifies the crime of Honest Services Fraud 
Involving Members of Congress and prohibits defrauding or depriving the 
American people of the honest services of their elected 
representatives.
  Under this bill, lobbyists who improperly seek to influence 
legislation and other official matters by giving expensive gifts, 
lavish entertainment and travel, and inside advice on investments to 
Members of Congress and their staff would be held criminally liable for 
their actions. The law also prohibits Members of Congress and their

[[Page S3217]]

staff from accepting these types of gifts and favors, or holding hidden 
financial interests, in return for being influenced in carrying out 
their official duties. Violators are subject to a criminal fine and up 
to 20 years imprisonment, or both.

  This legislation strengthens the tools available to Federal 
prosecutors to combat public corruption, by removing some of the legal 
hurdles to public corruption prosecutions. Under current law, Federal 
prosecutors often have great difficulty bringing public corruption 
cases because it is difficult to prove a specific quid pro quo under 
the Federal bribery statute. In addition, the current honest services 
fraud statute--18 U.S.C. 1346--requires that prosecutors must also show 
that misconduct occurred via the mail or wire, even when there is clear 
evidence of an improper link between gifts and an official act. My bill 
makes it possible for Federal prosecutors to bring public corruption 
cases without having to first overcome these hurdles.
  The bill also provides lobbyists, Members of Congress, and other 
individuals with much-needed notice and clarification as to what kind 
of conduct triggers this criminal offense. For much of the 20th 
Century, honest services fraud was a common law offense which courts 
read into the federal mail and wire fraud statutes. In 1987, the 
Supreme Court invalidated this common law concept in the case of 
McNally v. United States. In response to the McNally case, Congress 
subsequently added an honest services mail and wire fraud statute--18 
U.S.C. 1346--to the Federal criminal code. Section 1346 has been 
regularly relied upon by prosecutors in public corruption cases ever 
since. However, that provision is often criticized for being too vague 
or for failing to give public officials sufficient notice about what 
type of conduct is covered by the statute. Courts have also disagreed 
about exactly what this statute means. My bill will help to resolve the 
confusion about honest services fraud in the legislative context, by 
setting out a well-defined honest services fraud offense for violations 
involving Members of Congress. In addition, the bill's intent 
requirements ensure that corrupt conduct can be appropriately 
prosecuted, but that innocuous actions will not be inappropriately 
targeted.
  Lastly, my bill authorizes $25 million in additional federal funds 
over each of the next four years to give federal prosecutors needed 
resources to investigate public corruption. According to the FBI's 
2004-2009 Strategic Plan, reducing public corruption in our country's 
Federal, State, and local governments is one of the FBI's top 
investigative priorities--behind only terrorism, espionage, and cyber 
crimes. However, an August 2005 report by the Department of Justice's 
Inspector General, found that, since 2000, there has been an overall 
reduction in the number of public corruption matters investigated by 
the FBI. That report noted that, in 2004, the FBI referred 63 fewer 
public corruption cases to the United States Attorney's offices across 
the Nation than it referred in 2000. My bill will give the FBI and the 
Public Integrity Section within the Department of Justice new resources 
to hire additional public corruption investigators and public 
corruption prosecutors.
  If we are serious about addressing the egregious misconduct that we 
have recently witnessed, Congress must enact meaningful legislation to 
strengthen our public corruption laws and give investigators and 
prosecutors the resources they need to enforce these laws.
  The unfolding public corruption investigations involving lobbyist 
Jack Abramoff and former Representative Randy ``Duke'' Cunningham 
demonstrate that unethical conduct by public officials has broad 
ranging impact. Just last month, the Washington Post reported that, as 
an outgrowth of the Cunningham investigation, federal investigators and 
the Pentagon are now looking into contracts awarded by the Pentagon's 
new intelligence agency--the Counterintelligence Field Activity--to 
MZM, Inc., a company run by Mitchell J. Wade, who recently pleaded 
guilty to conspiring to bribe Mr. Cunningham. The Cunningham case 
demonstrates that our democracy and national security depend upon a 
healthy, efficient, and ethical government.
  The American people expect--and deserve--to be confident that their 
representatives in Congress perform their legislative duties in a 
manner that is beyond reproach and that is in the public interest.
  Because I strongly believe that Congress must do more to restore the 
public's trust in their Congress, I urge all Senators to support this 
bill.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2559

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Honest Services Act of 
     2006''.

     SEC. 2. HONEST SERVICES FRAUD INVOLVING MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 63 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

     ``Sec. 1351. Honest services fraud involving members of 
       Congress

       ``(a) In General.--Whoever knowingly and willfully 
     executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice to 
     defraud and deprive the United States, the Congress, or the 
     constituents of a Member of Congress, of the right to the 
     honest services of a Member of Congress by--
       ``(1) offering and providing to a Member of Congress, or an 
     employee of a Member of Congress, anything of value or a 
     series of things of value, with the intent to influence the 
     performance an official act or series of official acts; or
       ``(2) being a Member of Congress, or an employee of a 
     Member of Congress, accepting anything of value or a series 
     of things of value or holding an undisclosed financial 
     interest, with the intent to be influenced in performing an 
     official act or series of official acts;

     shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 
     20 years, or both.
       ``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
       ``(1) Honest services.--The term `honest services' includes 
     the right to conscientious, loyal, faithful, disinterested, 
     and unbiased service, to be performed free of deceit, undue 
     influence, conflict of interest, self-enrichment, self-
     dealing, concealment, bribery, fraud, and corruption.
       ``(2) Official act.--The term `official act'--
       ``(A) has the meaning given that term in section 201(a)(3) 
     of this title; and
       ``(B) includes supporting and passing legislation, placing 
     a statement in the Congressional Record, participating in a 
     meeting, conducting hearings, or advancing or advocating for 
     an application to obtain a contract with the United States 
     Government.
       ``(3) Undisclosed financial interest.--The term 
     `undisclosed financial interest' includes any financial 
     interest not disclosed as required by statute or by the 
     Standing Rules of the Senate.
       ``(c) No Inference and Scope.--Nothing in this section 
     shall be construed to--
       ``(1) create any inference with respect to whether the 
     conduct described in section 1351 of this title was already a 
     criminal or civil offense prior to the enactment of this 
     section; or
       ``(2) limit the scope of any existing criminal or civil 
     offense.''.
       (b) Chapter Analysis.--The chapter analysis for chapter 63 
     of title 18, United States Code is amended by adding at the 
     end, the following:

``1351. Honest services fraud involving Members of Congress.''.

     SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL TO INVESTIGATE 
                   AND PROSECUTE HONEST SERVICES FRAUD, BRIBERY, 
                   GRAFT, AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST OFFENSES.

       There are authorized to be appropriated to the Department 
     of Justice, including the Public Integrity Section of the 
     Criminal Division, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, 
     $25,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2007, 2008, 2009, 
     and 2010, to increase the number of personnel to investigate 
     and prosecute violations of section 1351 and sections 201, 
     203 through 209, 1001, 1341, 1343, and 1346 of title 18, 
     United States Code, as amended by this Act.
                                 ______